Equestria Girls JT: Rainbow Rocks
by Grand Tome Publishing
Summary: When a friendly showcase turns into a battle of the bands, there's only one pony to call: Princess Twilight!
1. Equestrian Magic Pt 1

On the night of the Fall Formal, somewhere in downtown Canterlot was a late-night diner. Inside, however, all of the customers were all arguing with each other, where a green mist formed underneath their tables and went toward one with three hooded girls, who all sang as the mist went into each of the gems on the necklaces they wore that glowed into a bright shade of red. Their necklaces absorbed the green mist, to which they all stopped and the light from within the gem of their necklaces faded.

"Ugh, that was barely worth the effort, Adagio." One of the girls sitting at the table unfolding her hood to show her face with an irritated, unsatisfied expression. She had magenta skin, purple hair with turquoise streaks and it was formed into double ponytails. The other girl next to her unfolded hers as well, revealing to have pale blue skin, light blue hair with dark blue streaks and had a single ponytail Unlike the other girl next to her, she had more of a innocently confused look on her face. "I'm tired of fast food. I need a meal."

The leader, Adagio, unfolded her hood to her partners, revealing her yellow skinned face and orange curled hair. "The energy in this world isn't the same as in Equestria. We can only gain so much power here."

"Ugh, I wish we never been banish to this place!"

"Really? I love it here." Adagio said sarcastically.

"For realsies? Because I think this place is the worst." The pale blue girl said, taking what Adagio said literally.

"I think you're the worst, Sonata." The magenta girl told off the pale blue girl.

"Oh, yeah? Well, I think you're-" Sonata almost said to the other girl before she was cut off by Adagio groaning in irritation.

"I'll tell you one thing. Being stuck here with you two isn't making this world any more bearable." Adagio told the other her cohorts gritting her teeth at the last word she said when something outside caught her and her other cohorts' attention. Outside was the swirl of magic from the Element of Magic that defeated Sunset Shimmer from the previous story, which Adagio was the first to recognize as she stormed out of the diner to see it for herself. After having witnessed the swirls of magic in the sky, her necklace glistened, confirming that it was indeed Equestrian magic she just saw.

"Did you feel that?!" Adagio gasped asking her cohorts, who joined up with her outside before she developed a satisfied grin on her face. "Do you know what that is?"

The two didn't answer as they had no clue at what she was talking about, to her chagrin.

"It's Equestrian magic!" Adagio stated to the pink skinned girl.

"But this world doesn't have Equestrian magic." The pink girl pointed out.

"It does now." Adagio reassured stepping away from her cohorts. "And we're going to use it to make everyone in this pathetic little world adore us."

The two soon got what Adagio was saying and joined her side, sharing the same sinister smile she had as they looked on at where the magic came from.

It then showed when Twilight returned to Equestria at the end of the story where everypony left the room to return for bed. As the room was now empty, the spiderbot from the other world crawled out from within Twilight's saddlebag and scurried up to the ceiling and out of the room. It then slowly transitioned to Twilight's coronation where she was sharing a laugh with her friends, where from atop the Crystal Palace, the spiderbot that stowed away from in Twilight's saddlebag was able to zoom in from afar and observed everypony there, including the Mane 6. The entire coronation was being shown on one of several monitors on display in a dark room, where a figure was watching it while sitting in his chair. The figure was the same mysterious person from the previous story who stole Sunset Shimmer's magic and much like before, only his mouth was shown as he was busy looking at Equestria through the spiderbot he implanted in Twilight's saddlebag. Although he didn't say much, it was quite clear that he had plans in store for Equestria.

One the day after Twilight's coronation, Twilight was invited by Queen Celestia to participate in this year's upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. The train's whistle blew as it was ready to depart for Ponyville and the Mane 6 were there just in time to catch the train. Well, at least Twilight's friends were. They were returning to Ponyville to prepare a party for Twilight's role in the celebration.

"We're gonna write you and give you so many details, it'll be like you're in Ponyville with us." Pinkie told Twilight before turning to the rest of the Mane 6. "Right, girls?"

Both Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash then vowed a Pinkie Promise in response to Pinkie's question.

"And you will be with us right after the celebration." Rarity assured to Twilight walking over to her while using her magic to hold a notebook, a scroll and four color palettes. "We already have an appointment on the books to discuss the royal upgrades to your loft decor."

"All aboard for Ponyville!" The train conductor announced after another train whistle blew.

Before they could board the train, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy gave Twilight a goodbye hug. As the four left for the train, Pinkie Pie jumped onto Twilight and enthusiastically gave her a goodbye hug before bouncing away and joining the others on the train. Twilight's friends waved goodbye to her as the train departed for Ponyville, but Twilight hung her head low and sighed.

"I can't help it, Spike. They've only been gone a minute and I already feel like I'm missing something." Twilight said to Spike about how she was feeling, to which Spike placed his hand on Twilight's hoof in comfort.

Just then, to Twilight and Spike's surprise, a messanger pony flew right up to them holding a letter. "For the Princess."

The messanger pony handed the letter to Spike and flew off. Confused yet curious, Spike opened the letter to see what it said. "'Dear Twilight. You aren't missing anything. Your friend, Pinkie Pie.'"

"That's meee!" Pinkie shouted from within the train in the distance having somehow heard what Spike said.

"But I am. I just know it." Twilight lamented in response to Pinkie's letter.

As Twilight watched her friends returning to Ponyville for her party, she couldn't help but miss the girls she befriended back in Canterlot High, who were so similar to the ponies she knew and loved, but each special in their own way. Twilight wondered what they were doing right then. They told her all about how Canterlot High always held a springtime carnival every year. Maybe her new friends were there. Maybe Flash Sentry was playing his guitar on stage. Maybe if she had more time there, she would've been able to gone to the carnival with those girls. Twilight could imagine it so perfectly that her daydream just then almost felt real...

The daydream consisted of a Ferris wheel, a mini roller coaster, a carousel with painted ponies, a photo booth, tons of games, and all kinds of delicious things to eat set up on the school grounds. The Humane 6 were split into 3 groups: Twilight was with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash was with Applejack, and Rarity was with Pinkie Pie. All 3 groups contacted each other via texts as they navigated throughout the Spring Carnival to find each other. As she and Fluttershy were in front of the mini roller coaster, Twilight decided that they should all meet at the photo booth and sent a text to both Rarity and Rainbow Dash about her idea.

[Humane 6]

_Looking forward to some fun_

_Knowing all our friends will come_

Rarity was the first to receive the text as checked her phone and found said text in her inbox. Pinkie was by Rarity's shoulder with two ice cream cones and after seeing the text, she enthusiastically dashed off to the photo booth with Rarity following behind.

_'Cause we're here to spend a day_

Rainbow Dash was the last to receive the text from Twilight while Applejack was bobbing for apples in a barrel. She then informed Applejack of Twilight's text, who rose her head out of the barrel wet with an apple in her mouth, which she soon spat out and soon, both Rainbow and Applejack headed for the photo booth to meet up with their friends.

_Everybody come and play_

_Let's all pick a meeting place_

_And we're gonna have to race_

_Everybody follow me_

_This is where we're gonna be!_

It transitioned to Twilight and the rest of the Humane 5 as a band on stage.

_With my best friends_

_Though we're different_

_We feel like we still belong_

_And every day it makes our friendship strong_

It went back to Rainbow Dash and Applejack as they soon came across the carnival's high striker attraction and decided to try it out a bit before meeting with the others at the photo booth.

_Let's go find more games to win_

Rainbow went first and managed to get the puck on the tower to the second to last mark below the bell. She then gave Applejack a look that said "beat that".

_Everybody's joining in_

Unfortunately for Rainbow, Applejack managed to get the puck to the very last mark of the tower, but didn't hit the bell. Rainbow glared at Applejack bitterly at her loss, while Applejack smirked at her victory.

_'Cause we're having such a blast_

Though, Applejack's victory was short-lived when the puck unexpectedly hit the bell, beating both Rainbow and Applejack. The two looked down and, to their surprise, Spike was the victor as he walked off with a mallet in his mouth.

[Applejack]

_Hey, did I just come in last?_

Fluttershy was at a whack-a-mole game where instead she patted one of the fake moles on its head, showing how strong her love of animals is, even towards fake ones.

[Humane 6]

_Doesn't matter win or lose_

Twilight then stepped up behind her and presented to her a stuffed animal resembling Discord from Equestria. Fluttershy was horrified by the toy and whacked it with the game's mallet off Twilight's hands, much to the latter's surprise and confusion.

_When we always are amused_

Rarity was admiring the cotton candy when Pinkie walked up to her with her own cotton candy that was in the shape of her head and hair. It turned out it was her head and that it was covered almost entirely in cotton candy when Pinkie ate some of it off her face. Pinkie and Rarity then shared a laugh as a result of this silly moment.

_My friends stand out in a crowd_

_Having fun and laughing loud!_

It then returned to Twilight and the Humane 5's band.

_With my best friends_

_We can depend_

_They will always follow through_

_It's a perfect day for fun_

_When I spend it with you_

Pinkie Pie and Rarity finally reached the photo booth and quickly entered inside in anticipation. Next to it was another photo booth, which both Rainbow Dash and Applejack then entered in anticipation as well. Twilight and Fluttershy at that moment also reached the photo booths, though they didn't see either Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity nor Rainbow Dash around. Twilight texted them to see where they were at and after a moment, both groups popped out of both booths to check outside and found Twilight and Fluttershy waiting for them. Twilight and Fluttershy raised their arms in the air, happy that everyone's here now, along with the others. They all decided to use one photo booth and sat inside together, where the booth began to take their pictures.

_Taking photos with my friends_

_Never want this day to end_

One of the photos taken showed Twilight warning her friends about the concert they were playing and that they needed to get on stage.

_But the time is going fast_

The last photo was Twilight being the last to leave the booth, showing only her leg.

_So, come on and make it last_

Twilight and the Humane 5 reached backstage and got ready for their show while the crowd outside cheered for them.

_Get the band up on the stage_

_Doesn't matter what your age_

_Hear the music_

The curtains finally arose with Twilight and her friends in their band outfits, ready for their show.

_Everybody start to dance!_

_With my best friends_

_Though, we're different_

Rainbow Dash almost fell off the stage as she obliviously bounced toward the edge of the stage. But she was caught at the nick of time by the Humane 5. Twilight then held her phone and took a photo.

_We feel like we still belong_

_And everyday it makes our friendship strong_

It showed a montage of various photos taken during Twilight and the Humane 5's time at the carnival, making dozens of memories for them to look back on later in life, including one of Twilight and Applejack dragging Fluttershy into a haunted house attraction, to the latter's protests. However, both Twilight and Applejack soon flee from the attraction in terror, while Fluttershy walks out unfazed by what she saw inside.

_With my best friends_

_We can depend_

Other photos showed Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity riding the mini roller coaster, though some popcorn that Pinkie brought with her on the ride flew into Rarity's face, much to the latter's dismay. Then, Twilight and the Humane 5 decided to try out the funhouse mirrors on display, where Rarity was appalled by how one of the mirrors distorted her reflection. Pinkie's reflection, however, remained exactly the same despite her trying to make silly faces on another mirror, much to her friends' shock and confusion. And lastly, Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie rode the carousel together, with Pinkie riding on a fake pony that strikingly resembled her Equestrian counterpart.

_They will always follow through_

_There's a guarantee for fun when I spend it with you_

Twilight Sparkle wondered if she'd ever get another chance to return to Canterlot High. Now that the Crystal Mirror was sealed, she probably wouldn't. But still, she hoped that her friends there were happy and that they'd always remember her, just like she remembered them.

She sang a special Carnival Day song for them, wherever they were and whatever they were doing.

Spike noticed Twilight was singing to herself as they were leaving the station.

"Twilight, are you okay?" Spike asked Twilight, snapping her out of her daydream.

"Oh! Sorry, Spike. I was thinking about our friends we made back at Canterlot High." Twilight told Spike at first blushing in embarrassment before telling him.

"Oh. Right." Spike replied understanding what she meant. "I miss them already."

"Me, too, Spike. Me, too." Twilight said agreeing with Spike.

What Twilight and Spike both didn't know was just how real her daydream was. Back in Canterlot High, her friends really were going to start their own band. And one day she might even be in it.


	2. Guitar Centered

Six months had passed after the night of the Fall Formal and life in Canterlot High was as normal as it could ever be, what with a student being really a sapient pony from another universe. Rainbow Dash woke up on a beautiful spring morning. When she got to school, she learned that there was going to be an upcoming musical showcase for everyone to participate in next month. Upon hearing the news, Rainbow Dash knew immediately that she and her friends had to be apart of it and that they were supposed to start making music together. But she knew she needed to get herself a new guitar first before forming a band. So, she went to the Music Center at the mall after school to do so, while also dragging the rest of the Humane 5 with her to help her pick out the perfect guitar.

"Rainbow Dash, I simply don't understand why you can't just play the guitar you already have for the showcase." Rarity sighed, reasoning with Rainbow Dash over the condition of her current guitar and before lightly leaning on the counter.

Rainbow shook her head at Rarity's skepticism as she placed the guitar case she was holding down on the counter and opened it. Inside was an old, beat-up sea green electric guitar. It's neck was also broken and just then, one of its strings snapped.

Rarity gasped in shock at the condition of Rainbow's worn out guitar. "Now, I understand."

"I guess it's been a while since you took it out for a spin?" Applejack asked Rainbow.

"I used to practice a lot with it, actually." "But then I got so busy with soccer and basketball and swimming and..."

Vinyl looked up from the cashier's desk and sent a text to Rarity: "You girls starting a band?"

"Oh, we are." Rarity said to Vinyl. "We're planning our own band for the Music Showcase. But now we've got to figure out what everyone's going to play."

"How 'bout this one?" Pinkie then suggested enthusiastically from behind Rainbow, holding up a purple tiger striped guitar.

"No." Rainbow Dash declined.

"Lookie here!" Pinkie then said holding up a banjo, to which Rainbow repeated her answer.

"Super groovy!" Pinkie said, this time holding up a tuba.

"No, Pinkie." Rainbow told Pinkie.

"Well? Whatcha lookin' for?" Applejack then asked.

"That's the problem." Rainbow explained. "I need something that looks as awesome as I'm gonna make it sound."

While Rainbow was discussing with Applejack about what guitar she wanted, Rarity wandered over to the keyboard section of the store and was trying out one of the pianos.

"You play beautifully." Fluttershy said softly to Rarity. "I wish I knew how to play an instrument."

"You don't have to play an instrument." Rarity reassured Fluttershy. "You have a lovely singing voice. That's much better than having to play an instrument.

"Oh, um, okay." Fluttershy said flattered by Rarity's words. But she felt nervous about singing in public considering her shy nature. It was fun to think about being in a band, but it was also scary for her, too. Every time she thought about performing onstage, she felt really nervous.

"What about this one?" Pinkie asked Rainbow Dash holding up a bass.

"That's a bass, Pinkie." Applejack told Pinkie before taking a look at it. "A nice one, too. But I already got one at home for me to play, if you're interested, Rainbow."

Rainbow Dash merely sighed. She liked to have good equipment when she played, whether it was the perfect pair of cleats, a brand new ball, or a guitar that would let her fingers create just the right music for their band. And then she saw it. On the wall was the most perfect guitar she had ever seen. It was a red double-necked guitar. It had flair, it had style, but best of all, it was decorated with stars and a lightning bolt in the center.

Rainbow Dash gasped in awe; her eyes lit up. Of course! This was what she had been looking for. She ran over to it. She couldn't wait to play such an amazing guitar. It was calling to her. Already, she could feel music pouring through her. She reached out and grabbed hold of the guitar's left neck, and just as she did, another hand grabbed the other neck on the right. It was Trixie!

"Hands off my guitar, Trixie!" Rainbow Dash demanded to Trixie as she pulled the guitar towards her.

"I touched it first, Rainbow Dash!" Trixie said back to Rainbow, yanking the guitar back into her direction.

The two were just about to begin a full-on tug-of-war for the double-necked guitar when Applejack stepped in.

"Simmer down there, you two." Applejack ordered, but neither Rainbow Dash nor Trixie took their hand off the double-necked guitar.

"There's no need to become ruffians, darlings," Rarity spoke and reasoned, "when a simple inquiry could solve the problem."

She stepped over to the cashier's desk to talk to Vinyl Scratch. "Excuse me, but do you happen to have this same exact guitar in the back, and if so, could I trouble you to get it for me, please?"

Vinyl looked over at the guitar the two girls were fighting over. The two looked at her, hopeful. Vinyl shook her head.

"Oh..." Rarity soon replied to Vinyl's answer in disappointment before returning to the others.

Rainbow's hand reached up higher on the neck she was grabbing on to to tighten her grip. Unfortunately for her, Trixie did the same. "Now what?"

"Sounds to me like this is the makin' for a nice, friendly competition." Applejack then said, seeing that there was only one option left for Rainbow and Trixie to go with.

"Alright. Let's see who plays best." Rainbow Dash wagered to Trixie.

"A shred-off?" Trixie asked showing intrigue.

"Shred ON!"

Rainbow Dash held up her hand in the air where Pinkie popped up from above and handed her a cyan guitar to compete with before going back up offscreen. Luckily for Rainbow Dash, the guitar was surprisingly already plugged into a nearby amp despite Pinkie having given it to her upside down. She put the strap around her neck and began warming up her fingers with a few quick scales and chords.

Trixie chose an orange axe guitar and almost instantly her fingers were flying across the strings, creating an irresistible rift.

"I sure hope our Rainbow is up to speed." Applejack whispered to Rarity.

Fluttershy shushed Applejack. "She's going to do great. We just have to believe in her."

Trixie dazzled her and Rainbow Dash's watchers with electrifying playing. She had style and energy. She was awesome. Rainbow's friends then started clapping along while she played. Or at least, that's what she imagined. Rainbow's friends were instead merely watching the match before them as Rainbow and Trixie played.

Rainbow Dash was determined to win that double-necked guitar and she was sliding and bending notes to create all kinds of wild effects. The girls' licks grew more and more complex and powerful, astounding the Humane 4 with their righteous riffs and mind-boggling power chords.

Trixie dropped to one knee and let loose with out-of-this-world strumming. Her white hair was flying, she had her eyes shut, and every cell in her body seemed to be focused on her playing.

For a moment, Rainbow Dash backed away a bit, seeing how Trixie was getting the upper hand in the battle and had her cornered. Was she going to lose? Did she have it in her to wow the crowd? She looked over to her friends. They were counting on her. She had to do it for the band. She had to.

And that's when it happened. In her darkest hour, she was enveloped with an electrical aura, along with the guitar she was playing, changing its color to blue with its neck red and having small lightning bolts on it. She had ponied up! She wasn't just a rocker, she was a full-fledged pony player! A determined expression came over her face as she totally went for it with a dazzling run of notes. Her fingers were racing, the strings were dancing, music was pouring out of the guitar. She made it sound like a waterfall, a thunderstorm, and then the sun bursting through the clouds after the rain. The music was irresistible.

Trixie glanced up from her playing and saw Rainbow Dash's state, to her utter shock. Rainbow Dash leaped into the air, gave one last triumphant strum to her guitar, and landed, sending out a sonic rainboom-like shockwave, knocking Trixie back into the drum section.

The smoke cleared, with Rainbow Dash kneeling on the floor and found her friends around her. The girls all cheered for their friend's victory. There was no doubt about it. Trixie was an amazing player as she was, but Rainbow Dash was the winner. Trixie rolled one of the drums of the set that she crashed into out of the way and saw Rainbow in her pony form, astonished by the latter's surprise victory. She couldn't believe what just happened. How could she have ever competed with that?

"Check me out!" Rainbow Dash said, finding herself in her pony form.

Vinyl Scratch came up to Rainbow Dash, with the prized double-necked guitar in her hands, and handed it to her. Rainbow studied the guitar offered to her. It was certainly stylish, but that wasn't what made a guitar sound great. It was the sound that mattered when you came down to it. She looked at the transformed guitar she'd just played. It may not have been a double-necked guitar, but it was magical, both metaphorically and literally.

"Uh, she can have it." Rainbow Dash told Vinyl Scratch. "Turns out this is the one that really speaks to me," she then said clutching and nuzzling the guitar she knew now that she wanted, to which Vinyl gave her a thumbs-up of approval.

Trixie was in shock at what Rainbow said, but immediately soaked in her victory as she plucked her prize off Vinyl Scratch's hands. "The Great and Powerful Trixie always wins in the end!" Trixie gloated raising the guitar she "won" in the air and let out a laugh.

"I doubt it." Rainbow said to her, not really caring anymore, to Trixie's surprise and confusion.

Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch went over to the cash register to ring it up. Rainbow took out and handed over the money for her new guitar. With the guitar paid for, Rainbow Dash carried it under her arm. Now it was time to get some real practice in before the Showcase. There was no telling what kind of music she could make once all her friends started playing together.

As the Humane 5 headed out of the store, Trixie became curious about the price of the guitar she had "won" and turned it over to see the price tag on the back. Unfortunately for her, the price was not she had hoped.

"$12,000?!" Trixie exclaimed in shock before pointing at the entrance in vengeance. "You'll pay for this, Rainbow Dash!"

"No, silly. If you want it, you'll have to pay for it." Pinkie popped up from the corner of the entrance and pointed out to Trixie before leaving to catch up with her friends.

Unbeknownst to the Humane 5, they had been monitored by a spider bot that was on top of the ceiling. It then quietly crawled away out of the store's entrance without neither Vinyl nor Trixie noticing it.


	3. Hamstocalypse Now

During school the next day, Rarity noticed that Fluttershy was even quieter than usual. Whenever the girls talked about getting the band together, she seemed to disappear, playing with a lock of her hair or whispering something to one of the beloved pets she always carried in her backpack. Rarity decided that maybe if she spent the afternoon with her by volunteering at the Animal Rescue Center, she could figure out what was the matter. Besides, it would mean that she'd get to cuddle all kinds of cute furry friends there.

"Thanks for coming, Rarity." Fluttershy thanked Rarity as the two removed and placed her backpacks down on the counter. "The Rescue Center needs all the help they can get."

"Oh, but of course, darling. Helping cute little puppies and kittens will never go out of style." Rarity said going over to a puppy and kitten lying on a dog bed. She knelt down on the floor to the pup and kitten where she first scratched the pup's head, then picked up the kitten and affectionately nuzzled it.

'How hard was this for a job?' Rarity thought to herself. 'Maybe I should start coming here with Fluttershy more often.'

Fluttershy nodded, almost said something, and then changed her mind. She had so many animals to pet and greet. This wasn't a good time to tell Rarity what was bothering her. Besides, everyone else was having so much fun getting the band together. She didn't want to disappoint her friends. How could she sing onstage while Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie could with ease? How was she going to tell all her friends she just couldn't do it?

"Today, we have a really special assignment." Fluttershy eagerly informed Rarity.

"Do we?" Rarity asked.

"What we're going to do today is even more special than working with the puppies and kittens. Once a year, a lucky volunteer gets to clean the hamster habitat." Fluttershy informed Rarity opening the door to said hamster habitat. The hamster cages and plastic tubes connecting them were all dirty and filled with hamster...leftovers...with numerous stains covering the inside of some of the cages, as well as the stand holding one of them. Inside the filthy cages were the hamsters just going by their own lives.

Rarity tried to hide her lack of enthusiasm. "We have to clean...that?"

"It's quite an honor." Fluttershy gushed. "I signed up for it months ago to be sure I get it." Fluttershy went over and lifted the edge of one of the plastic tubes and called out to the hamsters inside, "Housecleaning".

Rarity shuddered and begrudgingly stepped inside the habitat. "Uh, Fluttershy, darling. Aren't hamsters, uh...rodents...?"

"They sure are." Fluttershy answered not bothered in the slightest. In fact, she was actually excited compared to Rarity as she watched the hamsters exit out of the tube on the floor and out of their habitat. "But they're cute and cuddly like bunnies."

Rarity wasn't sure she believed her. All the hamsters were emerging from the end of the tube at the bottom of the floor. Before long, a herd of hamsters was swarming Fluttershy's feet, and she was happily patting their little heads, tickling their twitching whiskers, and giving them welcoming kisses.

"Okay, every hamster. Follow Rarity into the next room." Fluttershy instructed the hamsters, whom all crawled over to a repulsed Rarity backing away a bit. "She'll take good care of you while I give your home a nice scrub." Fluttershy then closed the door and left Rarity alone with a swarming herd of hamsters. It was at that moment Rarity started to see what Fluttershy was talking about and gushed over how cute they were.

'Well.' Rarity thought to herself, 'at least I'm not cleaning up after them. How hard could it be to look after a herd of hamsters, anyway?'

Fluttershy spent the next half-hour scrubbing, cleaning and disinfecting every plastic tube and cage in the habitat. Fluttershy hoped Rarity was having a good time with the hamsters while she did so. By the time she was done, the place was much cleaner than it was before as nearly the entire room was spotless. Fluttershy smiled satisfied of her work as she had finally wiped dry the last maze in the habitat. Suddenly, the glass behind her was tapped. It was Rarity, pounding the glass with her hands trying to alert Fluttershy before she backed away while looking down at the floor. Confused, Fluttershy put her cleaning supplies away into the small cabinet and exited the habitat to find that all the hamsters were causing havok throughout the room. It was chaos! Total chaos!

"Rarity! What happened?!" Fluttershy asked Rarity alarmed at what she saw before her widened eyes. Some of the hamsters were now in tiny clothes that fit them perfectly, while others were fighting each other. One of them was even riding on the cat that Rarity interacted with earlier like a bull, complete with a little lasso.

"W-Well, uh, Carl Pettington's coat just begged to be accessorized." Rarity explained picking up the orange hamster she was referring to by the blue coat it was now wearing along with a black tie underneath. "But Emilia Furhart refused to be left out." Rarity then picked up the other hamster she was talking about, which was grey and wearing a blonde wig, seagreen dress and purple heels. Emilia then stuck her tongue out at Carl. "And got Curtis Pawpower to chew right through Carl's little scarf." One the counter was a large, buffed out brown hamster gnarling on a small red scarf in its mouth while other hamsters around it back away in fear. Curtis then got up on his hindlegs and wrapped the scarf around his neck showing off. "And before I knew it, I had a habitat wide feud on my hands!"

Fluttershy looked back at Rarity visibly dumbfounded and confused by her story. Carl Pettington? Curtis Pawpower?

"Also, I named them." Rarity then explained.

"Ladies and gentlehamsters, please!" Fluttershy called out to all the hamsters. At the sound of Fluttershy's voice, all the hamsters became absolutely still and looked up at her. "Now I know you're all upset, but why don't we all head back into the habitat and talk it over?" Rarity then came up to Fluttershy, holding Carl and Emilia in her hands.

Carl Pettington smiled and then puckered his lips, wanting a kiss from Emilia Furhart, who then tore off the tie on Carl's neck. Immediately, the hamsters all set to squabbling again. They chittered! They bickered! They bit!

"Oh! Now, how are we ever going to get them back into their habitat?" Fluttershy asked seeing that they won't be listening to her again.

Rarity found a tiny little hamster-sized dress she had made and held it up. A hamster lifted its head curiously. Slowly, Rarity led the hamster to the door, opened it and started walking toward the habitat. The hamster crawled over to the dress, sniffed it, turned up its nose and ran off to join the other hamsters.

"Well!" Rarity said offended. It wasn't often that someone, even a hamster, turned down one of her stylish creations.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy had carefully created a trail of food pellets across the room. But the hamsters weren't even eating them. They were picking them up and pelting one another with them. It was nuts. They were out of their minds!

Rarity then came up with another plan and went over to the counter to pick up her backpack, dumping out everything in it. She then tried to scoop up the hamsters into her backpack, managing to get Curtis Pawpower in the process. She then tried to scoop up more of the hamsters.

Seeing what Rarity was doing, Fluttershy went and grabbed her back pack and emptied everything out of it. Maybe she could use it as a scoop and catch the hamsters one by one with it. Among the things in Fluttershy's backpack was a tambourine, which rolled off the edge of the counter and rattled as it hit and bounced a few times on the floor.

All the hamsters stopped, mesmerized. But the moment Fluttershy picked up the tambourine off the floor, the hamsters began fighting again. Fluttershy then experimented and shook the tambourine gently. As the first tinkling of the tambourine, the hamsters were rapt, gazing up at her, silent and obedient. She shook it a little more, and they began to walk toward her. As she slowly slapped it against her leg in a steady beat, they started marching. They were hypnotized by the sound of the instrument. Amazed, Fluttershy looked at Rarity.

"Don't stop now, dear." Rarity begged. "You've found your audience."

Fluttershy took Rarity's advice and began to really play the tambourine, shaking and slapping it in a slow, hypnotic rhythm. Delighted by her music's effect, Fluttershy began to spin and dance toward the hamster habitat as she played. The hamsters followed in a straight line behind her.

Then, as if on cue, a tail and pony ears formed on Fluttershy. She had ponied up, just like Rainbow Dash at the Music Center yesterday. Though, she was carried away by the beat of the tambourine to notice. Rarity witnessed Fluttershy's transformation and like with Rainbow Dash, she was astonished by it.

One by one, the hamsters weaved past Fluttershy and quietly crawled back into the habitat. Finally, when the very last hamster was inside the habitat, Fluttershy closed the door.

However, she then realized what she had done earlier. She had played an instrument, all on her own. 'But would they want a tambourine player in the band?' Fluttershy though to herself, having self doubt.

"That was wonderful!" Rarity exclaimed at Fluttershy's tambourine playing earlier.

"It was?" Fluttershy asked, both confused and surprised.

"Of course!" Rarity confirmed. "Now, why have you not shared this with us before?"

"Oh. Well, I've been worried that I didn't have an instrument to play..."

"But you do now, darling."Rarity reassured.

"But I'll still have to perform in front of the whole school..." Fluttershy confessed.

"You think that's going to be harder than playing for this audience?" Rarity asked Fluttershy pointing at the hamsters in the habitat.

"Maybe you're right." Fluttershy said, seeing Rarity's point and shared a laugh with her afterwards. "If I do get stage fright, I'll probably just imagine everyone as the hamsters."

Rarity looked back at the habitat and saw Carl Pettington through one of the tubes, who had removed his coat. Rarity sighed upon seeing that. "I guess there is such a thing as too fabulous."

"Not for us." Fluttershy said. "I can't wait to see the outfits you'll make for our band." She was so excited about getting to play in the band than she had ever been before.

What a great day it had turned out to be despite the hamster catastrophe.

"You know, I've actually had fashion shows go worse than this." Rarity confided to Fluttershy. "As models go, hamsters are pretty low maintenance."

The two headed out the door of the Animal Rescue Center and began walking home together.

"Still, I never would have guessed that hamsters could be so touchy about fashion." Rarity remarked about the hamsters. From behind, her backpack opened and Curtis Pawpower popped out, snapping his fingers thrice in different directions.


	4. Pinkie on the One

Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy had been practicing all afternoon at Canterlot High. Rarity had written some great lyrics, and Rainbow Dash had created unforgettable melodies to go along with them. Fluttershy had been having fun, harmonizing backup vocals and adding a dash of fun with her tambourine. But Rainbow couldn't help but think something was missing from their sound. What was it, she wondered.

Meanwhile, Pinkie was in home economics class with Granny Smith, who was stirring a bowl full of cookie batter. Pinkie eagerly watched Granny while she stirred the batter, hoping for a bit of cookie dough or a lick of the spoon, while also getting a lesson in baking a new recipe.

"Just remember. The most important thing about sugar coco butter cookies is to fold your batter." Granny Smith taught Pinkie while stirring the batter in the bowl.

"Fold it?" Pinkie asked Granny giggling a bit, "Like a shirt?"

"Nah, foldin's baker talk. It means gently stir it, slowly." Granny Smith answered as she handed Pinkie the bowl, "Too much arm turnin' will make your cookies tougher than a lump of coal." Granny then went into the pantry to get some vanilla. Slowly, rhythmically, Pinkie concentrated on stirring the batter Granny instructed her. At that moment, Rainbow entered the room and walked up to Pinkie.

"C'mon, Pinkie." Rainbow told Pinkie, "We're supposed to help Rarity make the banner for the game."

"I guess I can fold a little faster." Pinkie suggested when she suddenly got an idea and rummaged through the bottom pantry.

"Then, after that, I'm gonna need you to help me find a drummer for the band. I mean, most people don't know how hard it is to find someone who can use both hands the way a drummer does." Rainbow said to Pinkie, who had brought out another bowl and another spoon from the bottom pantry and started stirring both bowls with both arms.

"I'll bet." Pinkie said as she managed to stir the bowls like rings on a stick. Both bowls slipped from her grasp and were flung into the air, where they soon landed back on the ground.

Granny Smith heard the crash and turned around to find, to her surprise, Rainbow and Pinkie now covered in cookie batter. Pinkie smiled at Granny apologetically while Rainbow glared angrily at her.

Later that afternoon, just as Rainbow Dash said, the Humane 5 were placed in charge of the Wondercolts' banner for their upcoming game, and Rarity had organized them all in the locker room to decorate said banner. They were sitting on a huge unrolled piece of bulletin board paper that would serve as their banner with some rocks holding down the edges to prevent it from rolling back up. They had some cups of paints with them to use on the banner.

"Now, it's important that our banner shine from the field, all the way to the top." Rarity instructed Rainbow and Pinkie.

"Yep, it's got to shine, shine, shine!" Pinkie agreed with Rarity.

"So, feel free to use as much glitter as you want." Rarity suggested as she grabbed a brush and began painting the words "Go, Wondercolts" on the banner.

Pinkie looked around the banner and realized they had forgotten to get some glitter. Eagerly, Pinkie zoomed out of the room without saying a single word.

"A drummer can't just be anybody." Rainbow said to Pinkie as she was helping working on the banner with the others just as Pinkie zipped back into the room with an absolutely giant jar of glitter in her hands. It was as big as a conga drum.

"Oh, of course not." Pinkie agreed with Rainbow beating on the bottom of the jar to get some of the glitter to pour out, but only a little bit came out. So, Pinkie then continued to beat the bottom of the jar to get more glitter out, creating a beat almost like a conga drum.

"They need to have the right instincts, you know?" Rainbow asked Pinkie keeping her eyes glued to her work on the banner.

"Totally!" Pinkie agreed, but she wasn't really listening. She was too busy beating the bottom of the jar to get more of the glitter out and apply onto the banner as she had it between her legs and beat it as hard as she could until a sparkly cloud filled the whole locker room.

When it came to the day of the Wondercolt's game, the team charged out of the tunnel for the opening of the game. But instead of tearing through the banner, it stopped them like a brick wall, or rather, a wall made out of purple metal glitter. Clank! Clank! Clank! One after another, they hit it and bounced back into the tunnel.

"Oh, well. Maybe I used too much glitter." Pinkie shrugged at how the banner turned out as she and the rest of the Humane 5 were also covered in the same purple glitter as the banner. Much like before in home economics class, Rainbow Dash glared angrily at Pinkie for ruining both the banner and the game.

Later at lunch in the cafeteria, Rainbow Dash was explaining to her friends about trying to find the right person to be the drummer for their band while having a bag of potato chips.

"The thing about the drummer we get is that it's gotta be someone with a lot of...energy." Rainbow Dash explained.

"Absolutely!" Pinkie enthusiastically agreed with Rainbow while she was making herself some strawberry milk and stirring the strawberry syrup in her milk. The clinking she made while stirring got Pinkie to start tapping her spoon on the top of the glass and then started tapping her fork on a salad bowl on her tray before she then started tapping the bowl with both utensils.

"I mean, a LOT. Energy. Enthusiasm." Rainbow continued seemingly oblivious to Pinkie's antics, who was now even slamming her fists on the table.

This lead to the table shaking uncontrollably. The plates of sandwiches and glasses of water on Applejack and Rarity's trays were soon getting knocked over as a result of the shaking, though Applejack barely manage to grab both her sandwich and glass of water at the last second.

Pinkie really wasn't paying attention to her surroundings at all as she continued her tapping before both her spoon and fork were grabbed by Applejack.

"Pinkie!" Applejack shouted at Pinkie, trying to get her to stop.

"What?" Pinkie asked Applejack seemingly unaware that she was annoying her friends.

Applejack then let go to see if Pinkie got the message, but she soon went back to her fork-and-spoon percussion session.

"They have to be able to carry the whole band on their shoulders." Rainbow Dash explained to the others, still not paying attention to Pinkie's antics. Her attention was soon turned to Pinkie when the latter tapped on her head while tapping on the table, in which Rainbow then shouted to her in annoyance, "Pinkie!"

"We have got to find an outlet for all that energy!" Rarity said as Pinkie then tapping on both her and Applejack's heads along with their plates and trays.

Hearing what Rarity said made Rainbow see that this was the perfect opportunity for their band as she then smiled excitedly, "Hey, Pinkie, how would you like to play the drums?"

"Me playing drums? But I don't know how." Pinkie told Rainbow.

"YES, YOU DO! YOU NEVER STOP!" Both Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy said to Pinkie together.

In a hurry, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy put away their trays and threw away their trash and hurried out of the cafeteria to take Pinkie to the music room.

"You're just going to have to trust us." Rainbow Dash told Pinkie.

"You'll see, darling. You'll be great at it." Rarity encouraged Pinkie.

With a mixture of excitement and nervousness, Pinkie Pie took a seat behind the drum set in the observatory. She picked up the drumsticks and tapped the cymbals. They reverberated through the room, and she giggled in response.

"Do it just like in the cafeteria." Fluttershy suggested to Pinkie.

Pinkie Pie took Fluttershy's advice and started pumping the drum pedal, tickling snare and tapping out a tight rhythm on the bass drum. Quickly, she grooved into a tight trot, racing her sticks over the drums and ricocheting rhythms. She was going wild on the drums. She was putting all of her tapping she was doing all day all over the drums and cymbals, something the others were quite happy for. Unexpectedly, Pinkie was lifted up in the air and ponied up as she played wilder and wilder. The others were, of course, surprised and amazed by Pinkie's transformation, though considering Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy have gone through the same thing with their instruments, they really shouldn't have been. Pinkie kept playing wildly on the drums despite floating a few feet in the air, doing a spin while doing so before finally landing back in her seat, panting wildly in satisfaction from her session with her hair disheveled.

"Whatever made you think Pinkie for the drums?" Rarity asked Rainbow Dash.

"I dunno. Guess I just have a sense for these things." Rainbow Dash answered just as Pinkie happily did a rimshot on the drumset.


	5. Player Piano

Sometime after Pinkie joined the band, Rarity volunteered to be a part of the band as well. Luckily for her, Rainbow Dash allowed her to join. The catch, however, was that she had to bring her own instrument to practice tomorrow. And so, the next day, the last school bell for the day rang and students poured out of the building. Some headed for sports practice and others headed for band practice, which both Rainbow and the rest of the band were already at as they were in the music room waiting for Rarity to show, who hasn't showed up yet so that they could do rehearsals for the Music Showcase. But where could she be, though?

Halfway across campus, Rarity was trying to get an enormous grand piano to the entrance, which she wasn't even close to reaching. She pushed with all her might and strength, but she was only able to get it to move by an inch with each push, which obviously wasn't much considering by the time she did arrive at this rate, band practice would already be over.

"Come on, Rarity. Rainbow Dash is trusting you to arrive on time. You simply must get this piano to band practice. And that means making the impossible possible!" Rarity told herself determined to complete her mission as she struggled to push the piano. "Perhaps I should've gone with an ordinary piano." Rarity said regretting getting herself a grand piano. but how could she resist the opportunity? Playing a grand piano with the band would look so magnificent in her eyes. And it would sound so much better than that old upright in the music room Rainbow Dash had recommended to her. "What kind of person doesn't put a piano on wheels?" She then wondered to herself. (Though, maybe she should have wondered what kind of person would take the wheels off the piano before suggesting someone like her to use it.) Rarity leaned her back against the piano, braced her legs and pushed. It wasn't budging. Rarity lost her grasp on the piano and fell right on her bottom on the concrete.

"Ooooh. Just look at me. I'm a mess." Rarity said noticing that all the pushing she did was getting her filthy after getting herself back up from the ground and dusted herself off. Her hair was also a bit disheveled in the process of pushing the piano. What was she going to do now? She couldn't just walk inside and get the others to help her move it inside. She would be empty handed and disappoint Rainbow Dash. Still, there was no way she was giving up. No way! As such, she surveyed the campus to see if she would be able to ask anyone who hadn't already gone home yet. "What I need is a bit more muscle." That's when she spotted three students near the entrance. Her classmates called them the Diamond Dogs as they're known to have a very heavy interest in jewelry as they come from a foreign country that's well known for its mining industry. It consisted of three boys; one bulky, but well fit with red hair, one skinnier, but still fit with blue hair and lastly, a very short one who didn't seem like he could lift a small weight. The three were currently digging a hole in the ground as part of their homeland's tendency of mining for gems.

"Oh, boyyys!" Rarity called out to the Diamond Dogs, catching their attention as they turned their direction towards her. Rarity quickly ran a brush through her hair and leaned elegantly against the piano, striking an alluring pose for the men. She removed a diamond necklace that she was wearing and held it up in her hand for them to see, "Do you think you could lend me a hand in exchange for...this necklace?"

The three grinned with greed in their eyes focused entirely on the necklace Rarity was wearing. It wasn't every day that they were offered something that had diamonds on it. They immediately went over to Rarity, ready to help her with whatever she needed. But they didn't count on having to move a grand piano!

So, Rarity assigned them to carry the piano while she arranged herself comfortably on top. After all, it would be a lot easier for her to direct them from there, and she wouldn't get in the way. The three carried the piano (and Rarity) through the entrance and into the school.

"I simply cannot thank you enough." Rarity thanked the Diamond Dogs, who were struggling while carrying the piano. Even three strong teenage boys such as them had a hard time maneuvering that enormous piano. But that didn't stop them from collecting their prize, "And while I am a bit repulsed by your musky smell, I can appreciate that you are diamonds in the rough."

The boys each gave Rarity a warm smile, being compared to diamonds felt just as good as getting the diamond necklace when they were done. It was at that moment, however, that the trio came to a screeching halt. Several kids were still in the school milling around talking to one another and unintentionally blocking the Diamond Dogs' way. With determination in their faces to get that diamond necklace, the Diamond Dogs then charged straight through the crowd, ramming into several students on the way, to Rarity's concern. Rarity stood up on the piano directing traffic.

"Excuse me! Pardon me! Excuse me!" Rarity exclaimed as politely as she could, but no one seemed to be listening as they were all knocked back by the Diamond Dogs. Ever resourceful, Rarity put her fingers in her mouth and whistled as loud as she could. And it was loud! Instantly the kids cleared in either direction for the Diamond Dogs to pass through.

"Thank you!" Rarity then said to everyone who heard her whistle. The Diamond Dogs proceeded down the hallway that led to the music room.

Meanwhile, in the music room, the rest of the Humane 5 were still waiting on Rarity to show up so that they could get started on their practice. Pinkie Pie had been repeatedly tapping on a single drum while she sat and Rainbow Dash was pacing back and forth.

"UGH! Where is Rarity?!" Rainbow Dash responded frustrated by Rarity's tardiness.

"That gal probably just wants to make some grand entrance." Applejack speculated on what Rarity will do once she arrived.

Just at that moment, the door burst open and the exhausted and sweaty Diamond Dogs pushed the piano into the music room.

To Applejack's luck, she was right as at that moment, the doors burst open and the piano was pushed into the music room thanks to the Diamond Dogs, who were now completely exhausted and sweaty from all the lifting and pushing with Rarity still on top.

"Ta-da!" Rarity announced ready to play music.

"Told ya." Applejack stated to the others.

Rarity's grand piano was now placed at the center of the music room. However, it looked like there wouldn't be any room for the piano anywhere around the band when they did play music.

"Rarity, couldn't you have chosen a more portable instrument?" Rainbow Dash asked Rarity, who got down from the piano and dusted herself off.

"Heavens no. The grand piano is the most refined and elegant of instruments." Rarity answered Rainbow Dash placing her hands on the piano's keys, "With it, I will be able to express my full musicality-"

Suddenly, a timer went off, which Pinkie Pie was holding.

"Well, our time's up. I guess we'll have to move our practice at the gym." Rainbow Dash said.

"Guess you're gonna express your 'full musicality' clear across campus." Applejack told Rarity, much to the latter's dismay.

All the frustration of the afternoon came back to Rarity. She couldn't go through moving the piano one more time if it meant she had to sacrifice another piece of her jewelry.

"Or, you can play this." Pinkie Pie suggested to Rarity after jumping on top of the piano on Rarity's right and took out/offered her a white keytar. It had the white-and-black keys of a traditional keyboard, but a tuning arm and a strap just like a guitar. Rarity gazed upon it, intrigued, "It's part guitar, part keyboard. It's a guitarkey."

"You mean a 'keytar'." Rainbow corrected Pinkie.

"Po-tay-to, to-mah-to." Pinkie replied back nonchalantly.

With a big, enthusiastic smile on her face, Pinkie handed the keytar to Rarity, who reluctantly took it. Rarity touched one of the keys and it made a powerful and precise sound. "Ooh. Oooh! Oh, my!" Rarity exclaimed, a little surprised and grinned as she began trying out a scale. She wasn't used to playing the keys from this position, but she was a talented player and soon got the hang of it, doing a spin in the process.

With one hand, she began finding the melody of a song while the other girls and the Diamond Dogs watched on. The giant sound of the keytar filled the room. Rarity's fingers were hitting every key across the board, her whole body swayed to the music. What was great about the keytar was that while she played, just like Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, it caused her to pony up after floating up a few feet from the ground. First her ears appeared and then her tail. The keytar helped her finally express her full musicality.

Much like the previous transformations, Rarity's friends were all in awe at her ponying up, as well as her surprisingly great keytar session. Rarity then landed back on top of the grand piano, finishing off her solo with a final flourish while sliding before stopping in front of her friends.

"I knew it!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Knew what?" Rarity asked Rainbow Dash.

"Don't you all see? We all get to have these cool transformations whenever we play our instruments. That's why I let Rarity join the band. I figured that if we still have some of Twilight's magic in us, we could use it for the Showcase." Rainbow explained, "And I want all of you for my band."

"Well, if you're gettin' everyone together, I got my own bass that I can play for the band." Applejack told Rainbow Dash.

"That's perfect! Bring it with you to practice tomorrow." Rainbow told Applejack.

"You bet." Applejack said putting her arm around Rainbow Dash before turning her attention to Rarity, "And it looks like your 'full musicality' does just fine with a keytar. What do you say to keepin' it and move your tail to our next rehearsal space?"

"Fine, fine." Rarity playfully agreed. But what was she going to do with the piano now? She realized she needed to return it now that she had found a more appropriate instrument for the band, didn't she? She then got an idea as she turned her attention to the Diamond Dogs and asked them in a seductive tone, "I don't suppose you boys could carry this for a little longer..." She offered her necklace to them once more.

The Diamond Dogs each let out a sigh and begrudgingly accepted Rarity's request as they lifted the grand piano again from underneath. The rest of the Humane 5 watched in confusion as Rarity was riding on top of the piano again while the Diamond Dogs carried it to her house. The afternoon had worked out so much better than she thought. And now she had her beloved keytar to play in the band.


	6. A Case for the Bass

After seeing her friends' performances for the past few months, Applejack couldn't be more happier when Rainbow Dash gave her the chance to play in the band. On the day she was to attend band practice and while she was getting herself ready for school, she saw outside her bedroom window that Granny Smith was having a yard sale outside. She didn't really pay much attention to it as she turned toward and headed for her closet to get out her bass to bring to band practice. It was a sleek, sunburst, well-used electric bass. It was handed down to her by her father when she turned 13 and Applejack had been playing it for a long time since then. The bass is a little longer and bigger than a regular guitar, and it gives a band its rhythm. That's the way Applejack thought of herself, honestly. Not as a star, but the girl who helped everyone keep their rhythm.

She soon, however, lost that happiness when she opened her closet. Her bass wasn't in there where she left it. She then searched the whole house, but she couldn't find it anywhere. Where was it? That's when Granny Smith told her that it was lying by the porch while she was setting up the yard sale a few hours ago, to which Applejack soon remembered that she was playing it last night and forgot to bring it back inside after dinner. She couldn't help but feel the slightest bit embarrassed about that as she blushed and hid her face with her hat. But, unfortunately for her, when Applejack asked Granny what happened to it, Granny soon realized that she had sold it to someone by accident. Now what was Applejack going to do? She knew the band couldn't have one without a bass player and she had to find a way to get her bass back. There was no way she could afford another one. Basses these days were expensive.

Her friends arrived to pick her up and Applejack explained her situation to them. Luckily for her, they were more than willing to help her. And surely if she explained all this to the person who had bought it at Granny's yard sale, they would understand and give it back to her. It was the only thing she and her friends could do. There was only one problem, though. Could Granny still remember who had bought it, they soon wondered?

"Okay, Granny, one more time. When you accidentally sold my bass at the garage sale, who did you sell it to?" Applejack tried to ask Granny Smith having done so multiple times now. "Was it a man or a woman?"

"Err, It was definitely a woman," Granny answered, remembering and smiling.

Applejack nodded. "Okay, that's a start."

Granny Smith twisted her apron between her hands. Her brow was furrowed again. "Did I say woman? I meant man."

Applejack gave an exasperated whinny and looked like she was about to scream. But Applejack managed to keep her cool since this was her grandmother she was talking to.

"Granny," she asked Granny again, "did the man who took the bass say why he wanted it? Was he a musician?"

Granny Smith looked surprised. "A magician? What would a magician want with your old boots?"

"Not my boots. My BASS!" Applejack then shouted, having finally reached her breaking point.

"Now there's no need to shout," said Granny Smith. "I remember exactly who I sold your bass to. I thought we were talking about your boots. I sold your bass to a couple of brothers."

The girls all looked relieved at Granny's confidence, especially Applejack.

"Slim and Slam. Those were their names," Granny told them.

Fluttershy took out a notebook and wrote down the names of the brothers, but almost instantaneously she had to cross them out.

"Or was it Trim and Tram?" Granny then wondered trying to remember. "Nope. That's not it. Skim and Skam?"

All the girls were starting to worry.

"Granny, please try and remember," Applejack begged. "We're going to perform at the Musical Showcase at school, but only if I can find my bass. You sure it was Skim and Skam?"

Granny shook her head, and all the girls sighed like deflated balloons. "Uh, hold on!" Granny then stammered, much to the girls' delight. "It's coming to me. Uh, uh, I think I've got it. I sold it to the owners of that new pawn shop in town. Uh, Flibbity Flabbity, somethin' like that."

Rarity pulled out her phone and did a search on the pawn shop. "She's right!" she soon confirmed to the others. "There's a pawn shop right near Canterlot High!"

"Now we just have to hope no one's already bought it!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Quick, gals! There's no time to lose!" Applejack told her friends. "Let's get it back before school starts!"

The Humane 5 hurriedly ran in the direction they usually take to Canterlot High as a shortcut to the shop. Using the GPA on Rarity's phone, they found the shop, spotting Applejack's bass in the display case in the front window. As they all entered the shop, they were greeted by the shop's owners, who were this world's counterparts of the Flim Flam Brothers from Equestria. The Flim Flam Brothers were dressed in matching suits with blue-and-white-striped shirts and matching gray bow ties. They each wore a straw boater, askew on the top of their slicked-down red hair.

"Welcome to the grand opening of the Flim Flam Brothers' Everything Under the Sun Emporium!" Flim greeted the Humane 5.

"If you want it..." Flam said.

"...we've got it!" Flim and Flam both said in unison before zooming off from each other.

"Need a pogo stick?" Flim asked the Humane 5 while riding on said pogo stick.

"A bowling ball?" Flam then asked holding up a magenta colored bowling ball. He sent it rolling across the floor, where it hit a stack of bowling pins and knocked them over.

"A stuffed clown?" Flim then asked holding up a small stuffed clown doll by its orange hair.

"Whatever this is?" Flam then asked holding up something that he couldn't figure out what it was, and neither could the girls, which was a helmet-like device that slightly resembled Doc Brown's helmet from _Back to the Future_.

"I like that bass." Applejack requested pointing to her bass currently at the display window.

Flim then quickly fetched AJ's bass from the display window and offered it to her, much to her friends' relief since they'll now both get her bass back and be at school on time. "I can give you this bass for a non-negotiable price of $1,000."

"A $1,000? Why, you only paid Granny Smith $2 for it." Rarity pointed out to Flim baffled by the price.

"Yes, well, we have to cover our overhead in transportation costs." Flim explained to Rarity handing the bass to Flam. "And of course, there's also the stocking fee."

Applejack then got prepared for business. "Listen, my granny never shoulda sold my bass. it wasn't hers to sell and I simply cannot let ya keep it." Applejack tried to reason with the Flim Flam Brothers. "I'll tell you what. I'll give ya the $2 back and we'll call it even."

Flim and Flam were unconvinced as Applejack pulled out exactly two dollar bills from her pocket to hand over to them.

"Likely story." Flim and Flam soon replied in a disbelieving tone. Flim placed the bass down on the ground, holding it by its neck like a cane.

Applejack was dumbfounded. She was so honest, she was always flabbergasted when other people weren't. "It is! Because it's the truth! That's my bass!" Applejack argued trying to prove her case, to which the other girls nodded their heads in agreement.

"Is that so? And can you prove that this is your bass?" Flim then asked Applejack still unconvinced as he then held the bass by its neck.

Applejack smiled confidently. "Yep. For one thing, my name's Applejack, and my initials are written on the strap."

For a moment, Flim and Flam were taken by surprise. They looked to where she pointed on the strap and, just like Applejack had said, her initials were right there in bold lettering.

"See! See!" Pinkie told them excitedly. Now maybe at last they could get started on practicing for the showcase.

But Flim and Flam weren't going to give up that easily.

"That could mean anything! It could stand for..." Flam then rebuttled trying to disprove the evidence that Rarity showed them, but had trouble coming up with what the initials stood for.

"'Aardvark Junior'!" Flim then suggested, backing up his brother's "claim".

"'Anvil Jokers'!" Flam suggested to Rarity.

"Or 'Animal Jane'!" Flim suggested to Fluttershy.

"Why, I'll bet you don't even play the bass, Applejack..." Flam accused Applejack before confronting her nose-to-nose. "...if that's even your real name!"

"Of course, that's her real name!" Rainbow Dash pointed out to Flam defending Applejack while also bringing her face close to his.

"And she does play the bass!" Pinkie Pie then defended Applejack while she was rocking back and forth excitedly on a rocking horse.

"Exactly! In fact, If you'll let me play it, I'll show you that it's my bass." Applejack then told Flim and Flam, "Right, girls?"

"Go on, Applejack. Show 'em what you've got." Rainbow Dash agreed, knowing that it was exactly the right move that would solve the problem.

"Yes," Rarity said to Flim and Flam. "Give her the respect she deserves, and let her display her talents."

"Seems like we've got ourselves a little competition." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Pinkie Pie agreed. "You'll see how amazing and awesome and fantabulous she is! Let her play."

"I think you have to," Fluttershy agreed. "It's only fair."

Flim and Flam looked from one girl to another. There was no way they could say no to so many potential customers. Reluctantly, they held out the bass to Applejack. Flim coughed nervously and Flam bit his lip as Applejack snatched her bass off Flam's hands.

Applejack strung the guitar strap over her shoulder. "You have an amp?" she asked. When Flim and Flam quickly fetched one from the back, she plugged in her bass. "Hold on to your ears, boys. I'm going to let it rip!" And she started playing it to prove to the Flim Flam Brothers it was hers. And boy, Applejack could play! Her fingers were flying, and Flim and Flam's Emporium was rockin'! People passing by on the street stopped to peer in. This was great! What a solo! What a performance!

To her friends' amazement and Flim and Flam's shock, she showed off her skills pretty well. And that's when the magic happened! First the ears appeared, and then her hair began to look like a horse's tail while she played! She was playing pony style! She eventually ended her riff with a flourish, unleashing a shockwave similar to Rainbow Dash's experience at the Music Center throughout the shop, hitting the brothers, though they weren't exactly knocked back as they were still where they stood. After Applejack had finished, her friends cheered for her victory. Flim and Flam, meanwhile, were still shocked at what they just saw as their hair was disheveled as a result of the shockwave Applejack unleashed.

"Perhaps this is her bass." Flim said in realization and defeat.

Relieved, Applejack reached back into her pocket and took out the two dollars again before offering them to Flim and Flam.

"But there are still the transportation costs and overhead." Flim then reminded Applejack as he and Flam straightened their hair back into place, along with Flam's mustache.

"Don't forget the stocking fees." Flam then pointed out.

"Wouldn't dream of it, brother." Flim agreed giving his brother a hug.

Applejack sighed and hung her head in shame, seeing that she had lost her chance to win back her bass. The rest of the Humane 5 then joined her as she was leaving for school.

The brothers, however, soon saw that Applejack's riff had attracted lots of potential customers into their shop. Seeing that this could boost business with dollar signs in his eyes, Flim pulled Flam aside for a moment, and the two brothers whispered together conspiratorially. Finally, Flam turned to Applejack, an oily smile on his lips.

"Then again, I suppose we could some sort of...trade?" Flam then offered to Applejack, who, just as she was about to exit the door with her friends, turned around and beamed in excitement at the prospect of getting her bass back.

The rest of the Humane 5, however, looked at the brothers questioningly. What did Applejack possibly have to trade?

That was how Applejack found herself in front of the shop after school that same day, jamming on her bass, in a banana costume with a displeased look on her face. A huge flashing neon arrow behind her pointed to the store's entrance. Well, she was certainly drawing a crowd like earlier-and she'd had her bass at the end of the day.

"Come on down to the grand opening of the Flim Flam Brothers' Everything Under the Sun Emporium." Applejack said for anyone passing by the street, whom as it turned out was Trixie.

"is that going to be the costume your band is going to wear for the showcase?" Trixie snickered when she walked by.

"Just for practicin'," Applejack told off Trixie. It may not have been what she had hoped for, but at least she'll be able to get her bass back in the end. Then shortly after, Granny Smith came out of the shop having purchased the _Back to the Future_-esque helmet from earlier, much to Applejack's confusion. Granny then spotted Applejack and looked at her with a look of confusion.

"Since when do you play the bass?" Granny asked Applejack.

Applejack then facepalmed from Granny's forgetfulness she endured this morning coming back to haunt her.


	7. Equestrian Magic Pt 2

Far away in Equestria, Twilight Sparkle was getting ready for a party Pinkie was throwing at her new castle to celebrate their victory at defeating Tirek and she had invited everypony in Ponyville to the party, as well as some of the royal guard that came with Celestia from Canterlot. Flash Sentry would be there, and maybe she would dance with him. She could hear the guests arriving downstairs, and it sounded like Vinyl Scratch had brought her speakers and equipment. But even though Twilight and her friends sang a song about letting the rainbow remind them, she could hear different music, upbeat and friendly. It seemed to be coming from the stars.

For a moment, Twilight Sparkle had a vision of herself onstage in the gym at Canterlot High. All the kids were there wearing their pony ears and tails. Pinkie Pie was going crazy on the drums. Fluttershy was waving a tambourine. Rarity's fingers were racing across a keytar, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack were rocking their guitars. Twilight wanted to be there, singing with their friends. She really did. Maybe one day. Maybe the magic would happen again.

As she pranced downstairs to her and her friends' party, she began singing the song she'd heard.

"Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight!

Shake your tail! Shake your tail!"

She soon bumped into somepony as a result of not paying attention to what was in front of her. She looked at who she bumped into to apologize and saw that it was Flash Sentry, much to her surprise.

"Um, my apologies, Your Highness. I wasn't looking where I was going." Flash Sentry apologized.

"It's alright. I wasn't paying attention, either." Twilight reassured Flash, to which he felt a bit relieved.

As Twilight was about to continue her way to the party, Flash then spoke up. "Uh, excuse me, Princess," he said. "I couldn't help but notice you were singing. And I wanted to say, you're good enough to have your own band."

Twilight soon blushed after hearing Flash's words.

"Uh, if what I said had offended you, then I offer my deepest apologies." Flash apologized to Twilight, fearing he might've spoken out of line and fearing of facing banishment. "I, no way, meant to-"

Twilight put a hoof to Flash's mouth, putting a stop to his nervous stuttering.

"It's okay. I appreciate it." Twilight gently reassured Flash, calming him down. "Maybe someday..."

"Uh, will you be needing any assistance in being escorted to the party, Your Highness?" Flash then asked Twilight.

"That won't be necessary. But you can join me." Twilight then offered.

Flash felt hesitant on Twilight's offer at first, but he soon accepted and the two walked to the party together.

Back in Canterlot High, the Musical Showcase was now a day away and the entire school was getting for the event. Most of the student body was in the gym split into groups busy making banners for the upcoming musical showcase. While one group just started making their banner, to their surprise, however, Sunset Shimmer grabbed a brush from a cup of paint.

"Want some help?" Sunset Shimmer asked the group in a rather nervous tone.

"Uh, no, thanks... We're good..." One member of the group told Sunset rejecting her offer to help.

"Oh...okay..." Sunset then responded feeling disappointed by the group's rejection.

She placed the brush back into the cup when someone called out her name. It was Pinkie Pie, who was waving happily to her, while the rest of the Humane 5 were currently in the middle of making their own banner for the showcase. Sunset made a smile at Pinkie touched and it certainly helped feel good compared to everyone's muttered remarks about her when she started walking over to the Humane 5. As the months passed since the Fall Formal, Sunset Shimmer could still feel the scars that were imprinted onto her back, even when they fully healed. This only added insult to injury as she was also outcasted by everyone in school over what happened. Though, fortunately for her, the Humane 5 were at the least more forgiving of her, having already seen what she had went through.

"I had no idea the whole school would be here." Sunset said to the Humane 5, where Fluttershy came to her aid and placed her hand on her shoulder with a comforting smile.

Pinkie Pie and Rarity decided to show Sunset their poster for the showcase, holding up for her to see.

"Quite the eye-catching advertisement, if I do say so myself." Rarity said confidently at her and her friends' work.

"And it smells like cake!" Pinkie then pointed out.

"It does?" Fluttershy asked catching her interest sniffing to see if Pinkie was right, only for the latter to come up and plant the poster to her face.

"I used frosting instead of paste." Pinkie explained as she removed the poster from Fluttershy's face, which had some sprinkles and a bit of said frosting on her nose.

"Uh, Fluttershy. You got a little somethin'...uh..." Applejack said to Fluttershy tapping her nose to inform the latter about the frosting on her nose.

Fluttershy didn't quite get the message and rubbed her cheek, only getting some of the sprinkles off her face.

"Did I get it?" Fluttershy then asked.

"Heh. Not exactly." Applejack responded.

Sunset then took out a tissue from her jacket pocket to help get the frosting and other sprinkles off Fluttershy's face when Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna entered the gym.

"Good morning, students." Principal Celestia greeted everyone in the gym. "I just wanted to tell you all how pleased I am that so many of you are going to participate in the first ever Canterlot High School Musical Showcase." The students cheered in excitement at Celestia's announcement before she continued. "This is a wonderful opportunity to raise money for all our after school programs here at CHS. So, keep working on those signs and posters. I think it's going to be one of the most exciting events we've had at CHS since the Fall Formal."

Hearing those last words coming out of Celestia's mouth made Sunset recoil a bit, made even worse with all the groups (except the Humane 5) to glare back at her, serving as a reminder of what she did at the Fall Formal. Sunset blushed in embarrassment and tried to hide her face in shame at everyone staring at her before sinking to the floor with her back to the wall while the Humane 5 look on in concern for her.

Later that afternoon, the Humane 5 were in the music room doing rehearsals. They were a band and called themselves the Rainbooms. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were the guitarists, Pinkie Pie was the drummer, Rarity was the keyboard player (originally she tried to be the band's pianist by including a grand piano) and Fluttershy.

"I am never going to live that down..." Sunset groaned and fretted, who was with them. She was shown sitting on top of a grand piano.

"You did went a little overboard at the Fall Formal." Fluttershy said.

"A she-demon. I turned into a she-demon." Sunset then corrected Fluttershy.

"And tried to have everyone against your former teacher, whom you thought was going to destroy and take over both this world and the one you and Twilight come from." Pinkie Pie sprang up in front of Sunset and reminded her.

"Aw, darling, you have us." Rarity then informed Sunset. "And we've forgiven you for your past *ahem* boo-boos."

"To be honest, I say the whole experience brought everyone at Canterlot High closer than ever before." Applejack remarked on how Princess Twilight's influence has positively affected the school.

"1! 2! 3!" Pinkie Pie said tapping her drumsticks together.

[The Rainbooms]

_There was a time we were apart_

_But that's behind us now_

_See how we made a brand new start_

_And the future's looking up_

_Ah-oh_

_Ah-oh_

It then cut outside the room to a couple of students talking to each other in the halls.

_And when you walk these halls_

_You feel it everywhere_

Two students were hanging up a poster advertising the upcoming Musical Showcase.

_Yeah, we're the Wondercolts forever_

_Ah-oh_

_Yeah_

It then cut to the cafeteria where the school's soccer team inviting another student to sit and eat lunch with them.

_We are all together_

_(Ah, ah, oh-oh-oh-oh)_

Applejack then ponied up while she was playing her guitar.

_Now it's better than ever_

Pinkie Pie also ponied up while playing the drums.

_(Ah, ah, oh-oh-oh-oh)_

Rarity was the next to pony up, followed by Rainbow Dash and lastly Fluttershy.

_You can feel it_

_We are back_

_And I'm so glad that we're better_

_Better than ever_

_Whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh_

_Oh, yeah, we're better than ever_

It cut to school campus where Photo Finish took several group photos of various students. The students featured in the group photos were Applejack's brother Big Mac, Snips, Snails and Trixie. It then transitioned back to Sunset watching the Rainbooms when Rainbow Dash came up to her.

[Rainbow Dash]

_There was a time we couldn't see_

_Past the differences_

[Applejack]

_That separated you and me_

_And it left us on our own_

It showed another hallway on the other side of the school with students either interacting with each other or just walking by. By the lockers, two students were playing with a hackey sac as they kicked it back and forth with each other. However, one of their kicks accidentally knocked it away from them.

[Pinkie Pie]

_But now you walk these halls_

_And friends are everywhere_

The hackey sac the students were kicking with lightly hit the back of someone wearing a Wondercolts headband, which knocked off and landed on top of someone else at their locker. The two looked at each other and then shared a friendly laugh.

[Rainbooms]

_Yeah, we're the Wondercolts forever_

_Ah-oh, yeah!_

Cuts back to the Rainbooms.

_We are all together_

_(Ah, ah, oh-oh-oh-oh)_

Sunset got off from on top of the piano and was now enjoying the Rainbooms' performance.

_Now it's better than ever_

_(Ah, ah, oh-oh-oh-oh)_

_Now that we are back on track_

_Yes, I'm so glad that we're better_

_Better than ever_

_Whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh_

_Oh, yeah, we're better than ever_

_Whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh_

_Oh, yeah, we're better than ever_

_Whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh_

_Oh, yeah, we're better than ever_

The Rainbooms then returned to normal after finishing their song as Sunset applauded them.

"*chuckles* I still can't believe that happens when we play." Rarity remarked on their transformations earlier placing her keyboard guitar down, to which she then came up with an idea. "Oh! I've got to look into some new accessories. Something that looks good in a longer ponytail. Oh! Maybe some clip-on earrings for when I get those adorable pony ears."

"I just wonder why it happens." Applejack said trying to figure out the meaning of their transformation. "Princess Twilight took her crown back to Equestria. Shouldn't that mean she took all the magic back with her?"

"Who cares why it happens? It makes my band totally awesome!" Rainbow Dash said clearly not caring.

"Oh! Your band?!" Rarity asked Rainbow in confusion.

"Duh. It was my idea to start the Rainbooms so that we could be in the showcase." Rainbow then pointed out to Rarity and everyone else. "Plus, I'm the lead singer and guitarist."

Just as Rainbow Dash said that, there was a knock on the door. Flash Sentry was the one who knocked as he soon entered the room.

"Hey, heard you outside. You guys are sounding real tight." Flash told the Humane 5 congratulating them.

"Uh, we're getting there." Rainbow said to Flash. "Rarity's still coming in a little late on the second verse. And Applejack's ass solo could use a little work. They'll get it together in time for the showcase." Rarity and Applejack took offense to Rainbow Dash's critique.

"Alright, see you guys." Flash told the Humane 5 as he was about to leave, but soon stopped when he thought of something. "Oh, uh, I don't suppose any of our friends from, uh... out of town might come? Uh, it being a special charity event and all."

The Humane 5 saw that Flash was hoping Twilight would return as they all knew that wasn't the case.

"Sorry, Flash. I don't think Twilight's gonna be back at Canterlot High any time soon." Applejack assured Flash.

"He, he, oh, yeah. Okay. I just, you know, thought I'd ask." Flash said nervously backing away to the door, "Uh, keep rockin' it." He instead backed into the wall next to the door and blushed in embarrassment. He quickly left shortly afterwards.

"Well... *giggles* ...someone is quite a smitten kitten." Rarity remarked on Flash's behavior before turning to Sunset, remembering Flash's crush on her. "Oh. Sorry. I always forget Flash had a thing for you."

"It's okay. Flash is a great guy and all, but I was too caught up on trying to save both your world and Equestria to even notice or care." Sunset Shimmer reassured Rarity before remembering when she rejected him. "Ugh, I really hurt him badly, did I?"

The Humane 5 all admittedly agreed.

"But the important thing is that you've turned yourself around." Applejack assured Sunset coming up to her and wrapped her arm around her, pulling her close.

"Thanks, Applejack." Sunset thanked Applejack breaking away from Applejack. "But I'm not sure everyone else at CHS feels the same way."

"Sunset Shimmer, please report to the main foyer." Vice Principal Luna's voice came out of the P.A. system and announced to Sunset Shimmer.

"Gotta run. I volunteered to show some new students around the room." Sunset told the Humane 5 as she made her way for the school's entrance to meet said students. At the same time, the music room's security camera on the upper right corner locked on to Sunset while she walked over to the door. "Thought it'd be good for them to get to know the new me before they heard all the stuff about the old me."

Rainbow Dash waved Sunset goodbye as she left before turning to her bandmates. The security camera then shifted its focus from Sunset to the Rainbooms without them noticing.

"We've still got a few minutes before lunch starts." Rainbow told her friends. "What do you say we do, 'Awesome As I Wanna Be?'"

"Um, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked Rainbow Dash sheepishly, "I was wondering if we could maybe play the song I wrote?" She held up the notebook that she wrote her song into.

"Uh, we'll get to it." Rainbow Dash answered dismissing Fluttershy as she put the strap on her guitar around her and was ready to play.

"Oh. Okay." Fluttershy replied sadly disappointed.


	8. A Great Way to Meet Other Students

Sunset was walking through the hallway to the school's foyer. Though, she couldn't help but find herself looking up at the corners of the ceiling. Sunset had always felt she was being watched by someone that wasn't any of the students at school nor even the Humane 5, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna and it had been there since she arrived into the human world. However, Sunset soon started to feel aware of the surveillance placed onto her as she had grown suspicion of the cameras that she had never seen before even when it wasn't aimed toward her. But all of that didn't seem to matter as she would often think about the figure she presumably imagined back at the Fall Formal, which she had told no one about. She would still get an unnerving chill just from even thinking about that creepy man with the multiple tentacles that swarmed around him, to the point where at rare moments she would even have nightmares about it. She didn't want this to affect her first impression with the new students she was meeting and hopefully everyone else, so, she put all her focus and attention on her assignment, hoping it would keep her from thinking about...him...

"Hi, are you the girls I'm supposed to show around?" Sunset said to who she assumed were the new students she was assigned to.

"We are." One of the girls answered Sunset, stepping forward from the shadows and revealing themselves to be Adagio, Aria and Sonata in new outfits.

"Canterlot High is a great school. You're really gonna love it." Sunset said to the girls as she gave them a tour through the school.

"Oh, yes. We really sense there's something...magical about this place." Adagio remarked.

Sunset lead the girls through several hallways, showing them the various classrooms.

"That's the science lab. Computer lab is in there. Ooo! We're having a big musical showcase this weekend." Sunset informed the girls before stopping in front of a poster advertising the upcoming musical showcase, "The whole school is pretty much rallying around it."

"A musical showcase?" Adagio asked, with said event catching her interest subtlely scheming to her co-horts, who shared the same thing.

"I'm sure since you're new, Principal Celestia would let you sign up if you're interested." Sunset suggested.

"We have been known to sing from time to time." Aria bragged a little.

"Hello?! Like, we sing, like, all the time." Sonata reminded Aria. "It's how we get people to do whatever we want."

Adagio then tried to signal to Sonata to zip it.

"Wh-What did I say?" Sonata asked Adagio oblivious.

"What you meant to say was that being in a musical showcase sounds like a great way to meet other students." Adagio corrected Sonata.

"Oh, yeah." Sonata responded casually. "What she said what I meant to say. That's what I meant. To say."

"And what you would've said if you weren't the worst." Aria stated to Sonata.

"You are!" Sonata said back.

"You'll have to excuse them. They're idiots." Adagio told Sunset.

Sunset didn't know what else to say after seeing these girls' behavior. The four stood there awkwardly for a moment until Sunset noticed the necklaces they were all wearing.

Sunset nervously chuckled. "Those are pretty. Where did you-"

Adagio quickly grabbed Sunset's arm, but soon let go.

Adagio nervously laughed. "Sorry. These pendants mean an awful lot to us. We just hate for anything to happen to them."

Adagio then left Sunset along with Aria. Sonata stayed behind looking innocently to Sunset before being dragged away by Adagio, leaving Sunset to ponder who these girls were. She soon turned around after hearing a skittering sound from behind, only to find nothing. Her reflection was shown on the lens of a security camera as she soon headed for the cafeteria when the camera transformed to a spider bot and scurried off in the opposite direction.

Later, Sunset joined her friends at their table in the cafeteria.

"So? How was the tour?" Applejack asked Sunset.

"I don't know." Sunset answered unsure. "I mean, these girls, they were... There was something off about them."

"Like, off like this?" Pinkie asked placing the end of her hair over her mouth to make it look like she had a beard, "Or off like this?" Pinkie asked again, this time placing two pieces of lettuce on her eyebrows and two carrots in her mouth to make them look like fangs, "Or, oh-oh-like-"

"Maybe we should just let her tell us." Rainbow suggested as she and Pinkie turned to her.

"That's just it. I can't put my finger on it." Sunset continued to explain. "They just acted sort of...strange around me. Maybe someone already talked to them. Told them about what I did. *sighs* So much for making a good first impression."

Sunset sank her head down to the table upset, while the Humane 5 showed concern for her.

"Uh-huh." Fluttershy replied not seeming to get what Sunset meant until she saw her friends giving her confused looks, to which she then said, "Oh. That's probably not it." Fluttershy then sank down underneath the table sheepishly as her friends continued to stare confused at her.

Adagio, Aria and Sonata were, meanwhile, outside the cafeteria.

"This is it, girls. The moment we've been waiting for." Adagio told her co-horts.

"Lunch?!" Sonata guessed rather excitedly, to Adagio and Aria's confusion.

Adagio facepalmed at Sonata's obliviousness with a groan. "The chance to get our true Equestrian magic back."

"Oh. Right." Sonata replied.

"Our voices are just strong enough to make them want something so badly, that they'll fight to get it." Adagio said as she looked into the cafeteria of all the students inside.

"So, are we just gonna do what we always do? Stir up some trouble and feed off the negative energy?" Aria asked unimpressed with Adagio's plan. "Some plan, Adagio."

"It won't be the same as the times before." Adagio stated to Aria. "There is Equestrian magic here. Their negative energy will give us the power we need to get this entire world to do our bidding."

"But we can get lunch after, though, right?" Sonata asked, confusing Adagio again as she saw Sonata standing by a taco poster. "It's taco tuesday!"

"Just follow my lead!" Adaigo came up to Sonata and ordered.

"Or my lead." Aria suggested.

"My! Lead!" Adagio growled and threatened at Aria grabbing her by her vest. Once she saw that Aria got the message, she let go and proceeded to the cafeteria.

Aria felt intimidated by Adagio's threat, which Sonata was slightly amused by, to Aria's chagrin.

[Dazzlings]

_Ah, ah-ah, ah-ahh_

Sunset and the Humane 5 were the first to spot the three girls Sunset gave the tour earlier in the distance from their table.

_Ah, ah-ah, ah-ahh_

Pretty soon, almost everyone in the cafeteria was turning their attention to the three girls singing.

_Ah, ah-ah, ah-ahh_

_Ah, ah-ah, ah-ahh_

[Adagio]

_We heard you want to get together_

_We heard you want to rock this school_

_We've thought of something that is better_

_Something that changes all the rules_

_Why pretend we're all the same?_

The three then got together and raised their arms in the air as their pendants all shined brightly.

_When some of us shine brighter_

As what Adagio said, a fire burned brightly within nearly everyone, now entranced by the singing.

_Here's a chance to find your flame_

_Are you a loser or a fighter?_

The last part got some of the students to rethink about the Musical Showcase. And pretty soon, they were all glaring at each other in competitive envy.

_Me and you_

_You and me_

_Why don't we see who is better?_

_We don't have to be one and the same thing_

_Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?_

_Are you afraid of failing the audition?_

_You're a star and you should know it_

_Yeah, you rise above the rest_

_It doesn't matter who you hurt_

_If you're just proving you're the best_

[Dazzlings]

_Ah, ahh-ahh-ahhh_

_Battle!_

_You want to win it!_

_Let's have a battle!_

_Battle of the Bands!_

_Let's have a battle!_

_We'll go all in it!_

_Let's have a battle!_

_Battle!_

_Battle!_

_Battle of the bands!_

"I can beat you!" One of the students started arguing with the other.

"Ha! You wish!" The other argued.

"I so want this!" Trixie exclaimed.

"Not if I get it first!" Another student claimed to Trixie.

One by one, everyone was at each other's throat and were now obsessed with wanting to win the Musical Showcase, forgetting the fact that it was a charity event.

[Dazzlings and students]

_Me and you_

_You and me_

_Who don't we see who is better?_

_We don't have to be_

_One and the same thing_

_Oh, what's so wrong_

_With a little competition_

[Students]

_I'm going out_

_And winning the audition_

[Dazzlings and students]

_Battle!_

_We want to win it!_

_Let's have a battle!_

_Battle of the Bands!_

_Let's have a battle!_

_We'll go all in it!_

_Let's have a battle!_

_Battle!_

_Battle!_

_Battle of the Bands!_

Within a few minutes, Adagio and her friends had successfully gotten everyone in the cafeteria under their spell as the entire room filled with the green mist that surrounded all the students arguing, which gave the three more power. Sunset and the Humane 5, however, were the only ones the spell didn't affect as they had stared in confusion at the events that transpired before their eyes.

"Oohhh, they're that kind of 'off'." Pinkie said now getting what Sunset was talking about.


	9. Dear Queen Celestia

Later, after lunch, Sunset and the Humane 5 were walking through the foyer while Pinkie skipped.

"Those three are definitely in possession of some kind of dark magic." Sunset speculated about Adagio and her friends believing that they may have Equestrian magic. "How else would you explain what happened there?"

"Don't worry, y'all. We'll let Principal Celestia know all about this and those girls will be kicked to the curb in no time." Applejack reassured. "Last thing she needs is another CHS event almost ruined by some power-crazed lunatic." Applejack then realized the last part she said and turned to Sunset. "Uh, no offense."

Sunset sighed at Applejack's comment. "None taken."

Later when the girls arrived at Principal Celestia's office, they informed her and Vice Principal Luna all about the Dazzlings.

"Dark magic? I find that hard to believe." Principal Celestia said to Sunset doubtful of her claims while peering through the blinds at her window. When she saw the coast was clear, Celestia returned to her desk and sat down. "Those girls came into my office earlier and were absolutely delightful."

Luna scoffed. "Perhaps Sunset Shimmer is just eager to make someone else a bad element. So, that her actions at the Fall Formal would become old news."

"I can see why you'd think that. But-" Sunset tried to say before Rainbow unintendedly cut her off and went in front of her.

"That's not what's happening." Rainbow explained. "We saw all this go down at the cafeteria, too."

"Yes, but isn't your band supposed to be part of the Music Showcase?"

"Yes?" Rainbow Dash answered awkwardly after pausing for a moment.

"Perhaps you're all just worried that the Dazzlings will steal your spotlight." Luna once again accused the group.

"The Dazzlings?" Applejack asked.

"It's the name of their musical group." Celestia soon explained. "That's why they came by my office earlier to sign up for the showcase. Even sang a little song to Vice Principal Luna and I." Sunset and the Humane 5 developed looks of confusion and concern over what Celestia was talking about.

"They did?" Applejack asked again.

"Yes. And we think having a Battle of the Bands is a marveous idea." Celestia further explained. It was at that moment that Sunset and the Humane 5 saw the green aura in both Celestia and Luna's eyes, realizing that they were now under the Dazzlings' control and that they were out of luck.

The girls then hung out by the statue on school campus.

"I can't believe they got to Principal Celestia and Vice Prinpical Luna, too." Fluttershy fretted worrying for her school's principal and vice principal.

"They've gotten to everybody!" Rainbow Dash stated trying to balance a soccer ball on her head.

"Not everybody!" Pinkie sang referring to themselves.

"Pinkie Pie is right." Applejack said agreeing with Pinkie. "We were there when the Dazzlings were singing, but we weren't affected. It was like we were protected somehow."

"So, let's take them down!" Rainbow said. "I mean, it's not like we haven't tangled with dark magic before and totally whupped its sorry butt!" Rainbow realized what she said. "Uh. No offense."

Sunset scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Non taken. Again." She was getting clearly annoyed by everyone doing that in front of her, even when she knew they didn't mean it.

"That was when Twilight was here." Fluttershy pointed out as the ladybug flew off her finger and she watched it fly away. "There maybe some kind of magic inside us. But it only comes out when we play music. I sure don't know how to use it to...whoop anybody's butt."

"If only we can get a message to Twlight." Rarity sighed thinking of a solution to their current situation while polishing her nails. "Maybe she can tell us how to break the spell the Dazzlings have cast on our friends."

"Well, that's not gonna happen. The portal's closed." Rainbow reminded her tossing her soccer ball at where the portal to Equestria was, where it bounced off above Rarity's head. Rarity ducked her head, causing her to spill some of her nail polish on her arm, much to her chagrin.

"And I get the feeling the don't exactly have cellphones where she's from." Rainbow then theorized about how Equestria works after catching her ball.

Sunset began to think for a moment until she came up with an idea.

"I may have an idea how we can get in touch with Princess Twilight." Sunset told the Humane 5.

She brought them to her locker back inside the school, where she took out a book and showed it to them. It was a basic brown book and had a thin layer of dust on the cover.

"When I was Queen Celestia's student back in Equestria, she gave me this." Sunset told the Humane 5 wiping some of the dust off the cover of the book, which revealed to have her cutie mark. "Even after I abandoned my studies, I held onto it. Deep down, I guess I knew I was making a big mistake. And I wanted to still have a way to reach out to her." Sunset opened the book and flipped through a couple of filled pages until she came across two that her blank. "Maybe it still works."

"That's a book, Darling." Rarity said to Sunset. "What do you mean 'maybe it still works'?"

"It used to be that if I wrote something here, it would appear in the pages of a book back in Queen Celestia's library." Sunset explained to Rarity. "I get a message to her, then she get a message to Princess Twilight."

"So, what are you waiting for?" Rainbow asked handing her a pen to write. "Get to writing!"

Sunset took the pen and looked at it.

"Been a long time since I've written these words." Sunset said nervously as she began to write the words, "Dear Queen Celestia..."

The mysterious hooded figure watched this on his monitors in his lair and turned his attention to the spider bot stationed at Canterlot in Equestria. The spider bot scurried to the city's library and once inside began to analyze every book on each shelf for the one that was connected to Sunset's.

"Excuse me, Princess. Where do you want all these books from Celestia?" The hooded man then heard someone ask Twilight and turned his attention to the monitor of the spider bot that was stationed at Twilight's Castle. Twilight and the rest of the Mane 6 were in the middle of cleaning up the castle after their party had ended hours ago. The Mane 6 were cleaning the throne room where the party took place; Rarity was wiping off any stains of cake or punch she would come across, Applejack and Fluttershy were sweeping up the confetti off the floor, and Pinkie...well, she was collecting all of the still inflated balloons.

"The Library." Twilight answered to a delivery stallion, who was pulling a wagon containing stacks of books from her old library back at Canterlot. "Third door on the left."

The delivery stallion soon heard a rumbling sound coming from on top of the book stack. "Even this one that's glowing and vibrating?"

Twilight soon looked up to the same book the delivery stallion was referring to. This immediately caught her attention, along with Spike and the rest of the Mane 6, as she picked up the book with her magic and flipped through its contents until stopping at a particular page.

"What is it, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked Twilight.

"It looks like...a message to Queen Celestia from my friends at Canterlot High." Twilight answered analyzing what was on the page as the rest of the Mane 6 gathered around her.

"How is that even possible?" Rarity asked the same question everypony else was thinking.

"I have no idea, but...it sounds like they need my help." Twilight speculated as she then led Spike and her friends to the castle's library, along with the spider bot that followed them there through the ceiling. Once there, Twilight pulled out a book from the middle shelf. "The way Sunset described them, I think these new girls sound an awful lot like... *places the book down on the table* ...the Sirens."

"Not the Sirens!" Pinkie fretted before whispering to Fluttershy, "I don't actually know what that is"

As Twilight opened the book and explained to her friends about the story of the Sirens, the spider bot zoomed in its lense to the page Twilight was on, where it showed illustrations of the Sirens in their original forms. "The Sirens were three beautiful, but dangerous creatures, who had the power to charm ponies with their music. But to maintain this power, they had to feed on the negativity and trust of others. The more of this negative energy they consume, the stronger their voices became. And the farther they could spread their dark magic."

"I don't think I like this story very much." Fluttershy said already feeling uneasy about the Sirens.

"If the Sirens had their way, they would've divided and conquered all of Equestria." Twilight continued before turning the page showing an illustration of Starswirl the Bearded. "But a certain Starswirl the Bearded wasn't having it. Rumor has it, he found a way to banish them to another world. One he believed their magic power would be lost. That world must've been the one my Canterlot High friends live."

"But Starswirl must've sent them there ages ago. How come they're just surfacing now?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know." Twilight answered unsure, "But If my hunch is right, and it is the Sirens who've come to Canterlot High,this spell they've cast is just the beginning." Twilight closed the book, having gotten all the information she needed, along with the spider bot from above the library's ceiling. "My friends need me. I have to get back to them."

Twilight was about to leave until being stopped by Rainbow Dash, who flew up from and over the table and descended in front of Twilight.

"I hate to burst your bubble, Twilight, but the connection their world and Equestria will still be totally cut off for a super long time." Rainbow then reminded Twilight.

"Okay, first of all, if there was bubble blowing going on, why wasn't I told about it?" Pinkie then cartoonishly zoomed over to Twilight and Rainbow and asked, "And second, if the connection is totally cut off, how was Sunset Shimmer able to get a message to Twilight?"

Pinkie's question then gave Twilight an idea and she ran off. "Pinkie, you're a genius."

"Yeah. I get that a lot." Pinkie thanked Twilight before asking Rainbow, "Now about those bubbles."

Twilight teleported back into the library, this time with the Crystal Mirror from the Crystal Empire, as well as a couple of mechanical parts needed for her plan using her magic. Her friends were surprised that she managed to convince Cadance to give the mirror to her, but still wondered how she was going to get it to work. Twilight then began working on something offscreen and after some time passed, we see that she had converted the mirror into a dimensional portal device with the parts she acquired.

"...And the interval between the two points is defined as the square root of the sum of the squares of the separation between the points along three spatial dimensions." Twilight informed her friends about her update to the mirror, though this only confused them as they all looked at her in confusion.

"Say what now?" Spike asked trying to contemplate Twilight's words.

"Duh. She's going to take the magic in here. *points to the book* And put it in there. *points to the mirror* That'll make the portal open up so that whenever she wants to, she can go from here to there." Pinkie then explained simplifying Twilight's plan as she did a cartwheel before getting a bit carried away with the explaining, "There to here. Here to there. There to here. Here to there. There to-"

"We get the idea." Applejack then spoke up and assured Pinkie, who then politely trotted away from the mirror.

"Now to see if it actually works." Twilight speculated stepping over to the mirror and then taking and placing the book at a pedestal on top of the mirror, which soon powered up the machinery around the mirror. The others were awestruck at the process of the magic from the book being transferred into the mirror, ending it with an awe when the gateway between worlds was now open.

"Don't suppose we could join you this time around?" Applejack asked wanting to come with her along with the others.

"Better not." Twilight suggested, "It could make things pretty confusing if Canterlot High all of a sudden had two of all of you."

The rest of the Mane 6 all looked at each other for a moment and realized that she had a point, deciding to take her words to heart.

"Which reminds me." Twilight said before teleporting out of the library. After a few minutes, she teleported back now wearing her Fall Formal outfit.

"Why are you wearing the dress you came back in last time?" Rarity asked Twilight confused about why she was bringing the dress she brought with her from the other world last time.

"You know how we ponies don't normally wear clothes? Well, my Canterlot High friends told me that clothes are important to have at all times in their world. So, I don't want to greet them without anything on." Twilight informed Rarity, to which the rest of the Mane 6 nodded and saw that she may've had a point, considering she was the one who went there.

"But I still get to go, right?" Spike asked, "There isn't another one of me at Canterlot High. And you never know when you might need your trusty assistant."

"Mm-hmm." Twilight agreed granting Spike permission to go and then going over to the Mane 6.

"Yes!" Spike exclaimed happy to go.

"We won't be gone long." Twilight assured her friends as she and her friends embraced in a hug.

After that, she went back to Twilight at the mirror.

"Ready, Spike?" Twilight asked Spike.

Spike then got himself ready before answering to Twilight. "Ready."

The two prepared themselves as if they were about to start a race. And much like one, they dashed off into the portal to travel back to the world of Canterlot High. The mysterious hooded man then transitioned back to the screen connected to the spider bot that was monitoring the Humane 6, who were outside the school waiting for Twilight to come out through the bottom of the statue while it had transformed back into a security camera and perched itself at the top of the school's entrance. Rarity was polishing Fluttershy's nails, Sunset was looking through her book while sitting next to the statue whilst Rainbow Dash was doing tricks with her soccer ball, and Applejack and Pinkie were on top of the statue playing cards, to which the latter won, to Applejack's confusion.

Rainbow sighed. "I'm starting to think she's not coming-"

At the nick of time, Twilight and Spike emerged out of the portal dashing at high speed until they tripped tumbled to the ground.

"Twilight!" The Humane 6 exclaimed at Twilight's arrival happy to see her again.

"I'm back." Twilight nervously greeted her human friends. Despite her nervous reaction, she was happy to see them all again after all this time.

Sunset Shimmer came over to her side and offered her hand. Twilight appreciated Sunset's help as she took her hand and got back up. The Humane 6 then all swarmed around Twilight and hugged her, happy to see her again after so long.

"And I've got some bad news about those new girls." Twilight informed her friends in a more serious tone.


	10. Friendship is Magic!

Twilight made a stop at Rarity's Boutique, where she then changed into the outfit she wore in her previous visit in this world and returned her Fall Formal outfit to Rarity. After that, she and the Humane 6 went over to the Sweet Shoppe in downtown, sitting in the same spot they sat at last time they were here. Though, one major difference is that Sunset Shimmer joined them this time.

"Oh, I do hate that you had to return at a time of crisis." Rarity said to Twilight lamenting the reason she returned, but soon switched to a more excited mood. "We have so much catching up to do!"

"For starters, a certain blue-haired guitar player was just asking about you." Applejack informed Twilight.

Twilight's eyes widened at hearing the news, almost surprised about what she heard. "Flash Sentry was asking about me?" Twilight asked eagerly excited letting out a smile and blushing while twirling her finger around a strand of her hair. She soon realized that everyone was giving her a look teasing her of having a crush on Flash Sentry.

"*ahem* Isn't that nice." Twilight then responded this time with a more calm voice where she took a sip from her drink.

"Perhaps you could give us just the slightest bit of gossip from your world?" Rarity then asked wanting to know about what Twilight had been up to back in Equestria.

"She's got an official title now." Spike told Rarity while sitting on Fluttershy's lap, using a doggie treat as a pretend trumpet for fanfare, "The Princess of Friendship!"

"Wow, that's...really impressive. Guess you really were Queen Celestia's prized pupil." Sunset comment over Twilight's new status in royalty, though it seemed like she was a bit hurt by the news. Possibly seeing herself as a failure for not living up to Celestia's expectations.

"She's even got her own castle." Spike then pointed out.

"A castle?! You have your own castle?!" Rarity then asked excitedly bring herself face to face with Twilight, but soon realized she was making things awkward and backed away as she cleared her throat and saw that there was a drop of Twilight's drink on her shirt, "Er, ooh, uh, lovely." Rarity wiped the stain off Twilight's shirt to make up for her behavior. But Twilight didn't mind it really, as it reminded her of her Rarity in Equestria.

"What's new here?" Twilight then asked her friends curious about what's happened since the Fall Formal, "I mean, besides your school becoming the target of dangerous magical creatures from Equestria."

The Humane 6 all looked at each other, seeing that now was the time for them to tell her.

"Yeah. So, that isn't exactly the only strange thing that's happened since you left." Rainbow soon came out and told Twilight, reaching into her backpack and taking out her phone to show Twilight recorded videos of her, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie transforming into their pony forms.

Twilight was rather baffled at how they were able to do this when she was gone.

"Pretty sweet, huh? It happens to all of us when we play." Rainbow then explained placing her feet on the edge of the table with her hands behind her head.

Twilight soon theorized this revelation before giving her possible answer. "My crown was returned to Equestria. But I believe that since it's also one of the Elements of Harmony, it may have made a connection to this world and you all became apart of it, just like how me and your other selves are connected to the Elements in Equestria.. Now that we're all back together, we can use that magic on the Sirens. Just like when we were able to use it on Sunset Shimmer when she turned into that horribly awful winged monster!" The others were all shocked that Twilight said that last part about Sunset and Twilight soon realized how hurtful she sounded considering Sunset was with them as she turned over to her and apologized, "Uh, no offense."

"Non taken." Sunset reassured Twilight before giving herself a chuckle over it, "I'm used to it."

"They'll never even know what hit them!" Rainbow proclaimed rising out of her seat and acting like she was fighting the Sirens. However, she was stopped when Applejack caught her fist.

"We've got nothing to worry about now that Twilight's back." Applejack assured everyone.

"Oh. I'm pretty sure I can think of something to worry about." Fluttershy said otherwise, but soon turned to a more confident demeanor, "But it won't be the Sirens."

"The sooner we do this, the better. Any idea where the Dazzlings might be?" Twilight then asked everyone. Unfortunately, nobody in the group knew the answer to that. Suddenly, Pinkie tapped Twilight's shoulder and waving her arm to direct everyone's attention to her, finishing up her milkshake before giving her answer.

"There's a big party tonight for all the fans who signed up to be in the showcase. That would include the Dazzlings." Pinkie informed everyone eating the cherry that was on top of her milkshake she scooped from her now empty cup and eating it. This was exactly what our heroines needed.

"Looks like we have a party to crash." Twilight said using a napkin to wipe off a smudge of milkshake off Pinkie's cheek.

The girls then went to the party, which was taking place in the school's gym. Everyone inside was still under the Sirens' influence as they all stared competitively at each other without saying a word. The Humane 7, who were by the snack table, witnessed all of this and hoped that they would break the spell soon.

"I'm gonna get some more punch." Flash Sentry told his bandmates, leaving to do just that. Suddenly, he bumped into someone, knocking his cup out of his hands. He caught said person from falling and to his surprise, saw that it was Twilight Sparkle.

"Uh, hi, Flash." Twilight nervously greeted Flash.

"What are you doing here? You came back for the competition, right?" Flash Sentry asked Twilight acting surprisingly friendly to her in spite of him being under the Dazzlings' control.

"Something like that." Twilight answered.

"Heh. Not that there's gonna be any real competition. No one here wants this as bad as my band does." Flash Sentry said when the Dazzlings finally entered the gym.

Rainbow Dash was the first to spot them and she needed to get Twilight's attention. So, she plucked one of the chocolate chips from Pinkie's cookie and flicked it at the back of Twilight's head, making a direct hit. This got Twilight's attention brushing the chip out of her hair and turned to Rainbow, who directed her to the Dazzlings behind Flash Sentry.

"Can you excuse me for just a minute?" Twilight asked Flash as she left Flash and rejoined her friends.

Now that the Dazzlings had arrived, the Humane 7 can proceed with their plan to stop them as they go off and confront them. Pinkie was the only one to not leave and still busy eating the cookies placed on the snack table. She saw that her friends had left and before she could join them, she collected all the cookies she could get and stuffed them all into her hair in a similar fashion to her Equestrian counterpart.

As she and her cohorts wandered around the gym, Adagio watched how all the students were getting at each others' throats over the competition. She was absolutely loving that everything was going according to plan.

"Oh, no. No one's mingling. It's like there's some kind of underlying tension that could bubble to the surface at any minute." Adagio mockingly theorized.

"It's the fruit punch, isn't it?" Sonata asked a bit guilty, much to Adagio's annoyance, "I knew I used too much grape juice!"

"It's not the fruit punch. It's us!" Adagio aggravatingly corrected Sonata, though she still didn't get what was going on.

"But the punch is awful, too." Aria then told Sonata.

"What do you know about good fruit punch?" Sonata responded to Aria's statement about her cooking.

"More than you." Aria fired back.

"Do not." Sonata said to Aria childishly lightly hitting the latter's face.

"Do, too." Aria responded back, retaliating by knocking Sonata's hair upwards, messing it up before Sonata fixed her hair back in order.

"This is just the kick-off party, girls." Adagio told her cohorts, "Imagine what a tizzy they'll be in by the time the Battle of the Bands starts."

"There isn't going to be a Battle of the Bands!" Twilight corrected Adagio, catching her, Sonata and Aria off-guard as she and the rest of the Humane 6 were all standing together in front of the Dazzlings, "We're going to make sure of that!" With a strong sign of confidence, Twilight and Sunset knew they were gonna win this, "Alright, girls. Let's do this." All 6 of the girls joined hands and were now ready to attack, "Friendship is magic!"

However, nothing was happening as everyone including the Dazzlings just stared at the Humane 6 in awkward silence, much to Sunset's dismay, who grew worried about what was happening. Finally, after a moment or two had passed, Rainbow opened her eyes and saw that the Dazzlings weren't fazed by their "attack".

"Uh, weren't there rainbows and lasers and stuff last time?" Rainbow then asked Twilight about what she thought was going to happen.

"I don't understand. We're all together again. Why isn't this working?" Twilight asked confused about the plan not working. As Twilight looked on, she and the others saw that everyone in the gym looking judgementally at them while the Dazzlings each developed smug looks on their faces over the Humane 6's humiliation.

"You, uh, really need to go ahead and do that whole "magic of friendship" thing right now." Spike then popped up from inside Twilight's backpack and reminded Twilight.

"I'm trying, Spike. I thought the six of us standing together against the Sirens would bring out the magic we needed to defeat them. That's what happened before." Twilight told Spike, now losing some of that confidence she had earlier.

"Talk about throwing down the gauntlet." Adagio then spoke, "This group is obviously serious about winning. A little cocky though, aren't they? Claiming there won't really be a battle. Seems they think they've already got this thing all locked up."

And much like earlier that day, Adagio had quickly turned everyone against the Humane 6.

"Not if the Great and Powerful Trixie has anything to do with it!" Trixie stated determined to win as before.

"Whatever, Trixie! We're the best band in CHS!" Flash Sentry corrected Trixie.

And just like before in the cafeteria, the Sirens' spell caused everyone to go at each other's throats, with the same green mist spreading around them all representing their negative emotions toward each other. The Sirens were clearly pleased at their work as their pendants absorbed the negative energy that the students were unwittingly creating, powering them ever further.

Adagio looked back at the now distraught Humane 6. "I think we may have found what we were looking for. Or rather, it found us." Adagio looked back to her friends, with Sonata being the only one to not understand Adagio's remark, to both Adagio and Aria's dismay. The latter of whom merely facepalming at Sonata's ignorance, "Magic!" She back to the students, "Don't you see? Everyone else has fallen under our spell. But not these girls." The Sirens saw that the Humane 6 along with Sunset Shimmer sneaking out of the gym, "These girls are special."

The Humane 6 and Sunset Shimmer managed to exit out of the school recovering from the failure of their plan. Twilight was pacing around trying to figure out what went wrong with their plan while the others sat on the steps of the entrance. The Dazzlings watched on, plotting something sinister in store for our heroines.


	11. The Counter Spell

The Humane 6 and Sunset Shimmer managed to exit out of the school recovering from the failure of their plan. Twilight was pacing around trying to figure out what went wrong with their plan while the others sat on the steps of the entrance.

"It doesn't make any sense." Twilight said, "I should've been able to create the spark that would help us break their spell. That's how it worked before."

"But to defeat me, you drew magic from the crown I was wearing." Sunset reminded Twilight as she, too tried to come up with her own way to defeat the Sirens, "The Sirens' magic comes from their music. So maybe you have to use the same kind of magic to defeat them."

Twilight's only response to Sunset's solution was a changed look of realization.

"Or...maybe not." Sunset then reconsidered thinking that it may not have been the right answer.

"No." Twilight reassured, to Sunset's surprise and confusion, "I think you're onto something."

"Really?" Sunset asked rather excitedly.

"It's when you play music that you transform now, right?" Twilight asked the others.

"Yep. Ears, tails, the whole shebang." Applejack confirmed.

"So, maybe the way to use that magic to defeat the Sirens is by playing a musical counter spell." Twilight said to everyone.

"You mean like a song?" Fluttershy asked.

"Uh-huh." Twilight confirmed, "And in order to free everyone who's been exposed to the Sirens' spell, we'll need them all to hear it."

The rest of the Humane 6 then thought about a way to have everyone under the Dazzlings' spell in one place in order for the spell to work.

Rarity gasped, being the first to speak. "The band competition. That's the next time we can be certain that everyone will be at the same place at the same time."

"Guess the Rainbooms are the band to beat." Applejack remarked.

"And I believe you, Twilight, just became the Rainbooms' newest member." Rarity then said to Twilight.

Twilight visibly didn't the news too well, along with Sunset Shimmer, who moped about how she wasn't given any appreciation for her contribution to the plan as the girls all came to Twilight, passing by and ignoring Sunset.

"So? What do you wanna play?" Pinkie asked Twilight, "Triangle? Sousaphone? Theremin?" As she asked Twilight, Pinkie pulled said instruments out of thin air (mainly cartoon logic) and played each of them in order: first the triangle, the sousaphone, and then finally the theremin, "Soooo magical."

"I might take a little too long to learn how to play something with these." Twilight said referring to her hands, "I'll just sing."

"Like, as in, lead singer?" Rainbow Dash came up beside Twilight and asked her, "'Cause that's usually my gig. This being my band and all."

"It's our band." Applejack corrected Rainbow Dash, "And, of course, as lead singer. She's the one with the magical know-how to help us pull this off."

"Okay, yeah, that's cool. I'll just use this as a chance to hone my already insanely good guitar skills." Rainbow Dash agreed, only because it was for Twilight. She then did a bit of an air guitar, which made Twilight smile knowing that she was still the Rainbow Dash she knew and love.

"It's only temporary." Twilight explained, "And we don't have to win the Battle of the Bands. We just have to perform during the first round of the competition."

"Let's get to learning that musical counter spell." Rainbow Dash said already eager to get started.

"Well, that's just it." Twilight then said, "I-I don't know any."

The rest of the group awed in disappointment at Twilight's confession.

"But I'm sure I can figure out how to write one." Twilight said trying to make the situation better.

"Totally!" Spike agreed walking up to her and patting his paw on her shin, "Twilight can write a spell like it's nobody's business. That's pretty much how she got to become a princess in Equestria."

"Technically, I helped finish a spell." Twilight corrected Spike, "And there was a little more to it than that, Spike."

"Yeah, whatever." Spike then said nonchalantly.

"I've got this." Twilight said as she picked up Spike, "Come on." Twilight then made her way back to the entrance of the school.

"Where are you going?" Applejack asked Twilight.

"Well, last time we were here, Spike and I spent the night at the library." Twilight explained.

"Are you crazy? We're besties now. Slumber party at my house!" Pinkie told Twilight, giving her a big hug, almost crushing both her and Spike.

The other girls were excited to be having their first ever slumber party together tonight. An hour later, all the girls attended Pinkie's slumber party and they all did various things with each other: Twilight was working on the counter spell; Fluttershy petted Spike; Pinkie was busy on her laptop; Rarity was showing Sunset her phone; and Rainbow Dash and Applejack were playing a video game. However, even in their slumber party, they weren't safe from the surveying eye of the spidebot perched at the upper corner of the ceiling by the bedroom door, now installed with a cloaking mode so that the girls couldn't see it.

"Status update: 'Okie-dokie-lokie'." Pinkie said typing in said status update in presumably her webpage in a social media website.

Rarity, Fluttershy and Sunset took a selfie together. Rarity, however, was displeased when she looked at the photo on her phone and found that Spike had photo bombed the selfie behind them as she turned around and glared angrily at Spike for what he did while Sunset and Fluttershy couldn't help but quietly giggle about it.

Rainbow and Applejack were busy playing a video game against each other with Applejack beating Rainbow. Rainbow Dash then hit the reset button on the console, not wanting to lose.

"Hey! I was about to beat you!" Applejack said to Rainbow Dash.

"I doubt it." Rainbow merely said, denying Applejack's word as she turned to Twilight on the bed, "So, Twilight. How's that counter spell comin'?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, good. Great." Twilight answered nervously before turning her attention to Fluttershy, who was holding Pinkie's stuffed alligator that just so happen to resemble Pinkie's pet alligator back in Equestria, "Thanks for letting use your notebook, Fluttershy. I really like the song you wrote for the Rainbooms."

"Thanks." Fluttershy thanked Twilight, though it somewhat reminded her of how much Rainbow Dash was neglecting her work, "Hopefully, one day we'll get a chance to play it."

"Why, of course we'll have a chance to play it, dear. Your work shouldn't go unnoticed." Rarity reassured Fluttershy wanting to show her (Rarity) support for her (Fluttershy) song.

"That's what Rainbow Dash is doing." Fluttershy pointed out.

Speaking of which, Rainbow Dash laughed as she took away Applejack's controller, who was trying to reach for it and take it back, but Rainbow kept moving it out of the farmgirl's reach.

As Twilight was working on the counter spell (or at leash she was trying to), suddenly Rarity sat next to her in the bed.

"Twilight. I think I speak for all of us when I say I don't know what we would've done if you hadn't come back to help us." Rarity told Twilight, to which everyone else agreed wholeheartedly when the doorbell rang.

"Pizza's here!" Pinkie announced as everyone quickly exited out of the room hungry for said pizza, leaving Twilight alone on Pinkie's bed. Her face turned to disappointment as she looked back at what was supposed to be the counter spell on Fluttershy's notebook, which revealed some failed attempts that were crossed out as she sighed in disappointment as a result.

"Do you want any pizza?" Pinkie asked Twilight after coming back in the room with a slice of pizza hanging in her mouth. Twilight nodded and Pinkie went back to join the others.

Twilight put Fluttershy's notebook in the drawer of the nightstand before leaving the room to go get some pizza with the girls. Though, it didn't help ease her thoughts on

Some time later, when everyone went to bed, Sunset was having one of the nightmares with the mysterious cloaked figure from earlier. In her dream, she was running away from something where she then hid in an alley to lose what was after her. Just as she thought the coast was clear, Sunset was suddenly ambushed by the robotic tentacles from above. Sunset sprung up waking from her nightmare as she was clearly sweating. She soon noticed Twilight was missing and found her in the kitchen trying to write the counter spell.

"No, that's not gonna work." Twilight said to herself.

"Hey, Twilight." Sunset greeted Twilight, catching her off guard. "You're up late."

"Just looking over the counter spell." Twilight told Sunset hiding what she wrote from Sunset's vision. "We only get one shot at this. It has to be perfect."

"We really are lucky you're here." Sunset told Twilight as she opened the fridge to get herself a snack.

"That's what everyone keeps telling me." Twilight said.

"Who could possibly need this much whipped cream?" Sunset asked wondering about the loads of whipped cream in the fridge, taking one out and squirting a bit on her finger. "Must be nice to have everyone always looking to you for answers to their problems, instead of waiting for you to cause a problem."

"Just because everyone expects something from you, doesn't mean it's guaranteed to happen." Twilight said.

"But that doesn't stop them from expecting it." Sunset pointed out.

"Which only makes things harder because the last thing you want to do is..." Twilight said.

"Let everybody down." Twilight and Sunset both said at the exact same time, which made them look at each other in surprise.

They each responded with a smile and as Sunset closed the fridge, she soon saw Pinkie's sister, Maud right there. Sunset screamed in response to Maud's presence.

"Boulder was hungry." Maud said in her usual deadpan voice opening a cabinet to retrieve some crackers to feed to Boulder.

Sunset back away as Maud left the kitchen pouring some crackers to Boulder.

"I still can't get over the fact that she's related to Pinkie Pie." Sunset said to Twilight lowering her voice to make sure Maud wasn't hearing her.

"You and me both." Twilight agreed as they both smiled glad to see there was something they had in common Sunset yawned.

"I better get some sleep." Sunset said. "Good luck with the counter spell. Not that you'd need it. This must be nothing compared to the stuff you're expected to deal with as a Princess in Equestria."

Twilight, however, couldn't accept Sunset's praise and wanted to say something to her.

"Sunset Shimmer..." Twilight called out to Sunset before she left, but she couldn't bring herself to reveal how she was feeling at the moment. "Never mind. It's not important."

With that, Sunset went back to bed. As she walked down the hallway, she then remembered the pain from when she recieved her scars back in the Fall Formal and screamed a bit in pain as she collapsed to the floor.

Her scream was heard by Twilight, who immediately ran to Sunset's aid and helped up where she noticed Sunset's hand was placed on her back.

"Sunset, are you alright?" Twilight asked Sunset in concern.

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking, though." Sunset told Twilight before she saw that the latter was looking directly at her back and decided to show her what caused her the pain as she pulled her shirt to reveal the scars on her back.

Twilight gasped in horror at what she saw. "How long has that been there?"

"Since the Fall Formal." Sunset answered pulling her shirt back down. "And ever since, I've had these dreams where I'm being hunted down by someone with long tentacles. Ever though the scars have fully healed, the memories still remind me of it. I have no idea what exactly happened back then, but I hope one day I'll find out."

"I'm so sorry." Twilight apologized to Sunset. "I didn't know..."

"Don't be sorry. You had nothing to do with it." Sunset assured Twilight.

"I know, but I wish I had done something to prevent it." Twilight feeling sorry for Sunset.

"It's okay. Right now, we have to focus on what's important." Sunset said.


	12. Battle of the Bands

The next morning, the Humane 7 began their rehearsal on the counter spell at Applejack's farm in the garage. The Rainbooms were all, knowing that Twilight would help them save the day. That was proven to be easier said than done as Twilight was performing rather poorly in the singing department throughout the session. This made the Rainbooms' confidence to feel a little shaken and it was starting to become the same way with Sunset and Spike, who were by the speakers barely able to bear the experience. And people outside the garage agreed as Granny Smith passed by and plugged in two apple cores in her ears so that she wouldn't hear any more of the awful song. However, it seemed like there was going to be payoff after all for their performance, in which it seemed like pony ears were beginning to form on Rainbow Dash just as they reached the end of their song. Rainbow Dash looked at her bandmates to see if their pony ears formed as well, but found only one had formed on her head during the song before it popped like a bubble, much to her annoyance.

"Uh, that sounded way better than the...last five times you've played it." Spike said trying to be positive. This was immediately shot down by Big Mac, who walked by carrying a basket of apples replying 'nope'.

"I think it's pretty obvious what's going wrong with this counter spell." Rainbow Dash claimed.

"You're turning what should be the chorus into a 5-minute guitar solo?" Applejack argued.

"I have to pick up the slack somehow!" Rainbow argued back at Applejack, "Are you guys even trying?!"

"I'm trying." Fluttershy quietly answered Rainbow, though the latter didn't care.

"It's fine. *nervously laughs* It'll be fine." Twilight assured everyone trying to sound rational and calm in this situation, "One more time from the top." Twilight's order was followed by an awkward pause.

"Or perhaps we can take a short break..." Rarity then suggested, "...try on some of the wardrobe choices I put together? *pulls rack of clothes to her side* I'm particularly fond of this one." Rarity pushed the clothesrack away, showing her now in a outfit reminiscent of the Beatles, "Or, of course, it could go with something a bit more modern."

"We're tryin' to save our school here." Applejack reminded Rarity annoyed of her tendency of giving the band a style of fashion.

"UGH! You can never have enough costumes!" Rarity argued back, this time in a gold Daft Punk-style outfit.

"She just wants to make things fun." Pinkie then stepped into the argument defending Rarity, "Isn't that what being in a band is supposed to be?" Just as Pinkie said that, she did a rimshot.

"You don't have time for any of this." Sunset reminded everyone, "You're supposed to check in at the Battle of the Bands in 15 minutes."

The Rainbooms gasped at the news and in no time, they all scrambled around to gather up their equipment and instruments.

"But-But it's not ready yet! If we play the counter spell in the first round and it doesn't work, the Sirens will know what we're up to and make sure we don't get a chance to play it again!" Twilight warned everyone, in which they all stopped after hearing what Twilight just said. They all looked at each other, realizing that they were going in unprepared when Applejack thought of a solution.

"Then we'll have to buy ourselves some time, so you can keep working on it." Applejack said to Twilight.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Rarity asked Applejack about her idea.

"We compete in the Battle of the Bands for real." Rainbow Dash then stated, understanding Applejack's idea, "I take over lead vocals again and we stay alive until the finals. We'll unleash the counter spell then. You'll have it figured out by the finals, right?"

"Of course, she will." Spike reassured Rainbow Dash confident that they'll win this thing, "Twilight Sparkle's never met a problem she couldn't solve. Right, Twilight?"

"Right." Twilight responded nervously, though the Humane 5 didn't seem to notice her clear state of panic.

"Then let's go win us a Battle of the Bands!" Rainbow declared as she and the others gathered up their instruments and equipment and taking them to the back of the truck so that Big Mac can take them all to the competition.

Twilight and Spike were the only ones still in the garage with Spike showing confidence while Twilight showed the exact opposite and was rather afraid that things were going to end badly at the competition. And it seemed there wasn't anything she could do about it.

As expected, everybody had attended the Battle of the Bands competition in the gym as the stands were filled with students.

"Welcome to the first ever Canterlot High School Battle of the Bands." Celestia announced to everyone from on stage along with Luna, "I believe I speak for everyone when I say it is by far the greatest thing we have ever done here at this school." Everyone cheered in response, "We are so glad our three newest students encouraged us to turn this event into something exciting." She referred to the Dazzlings, who were sitting by themselves at one of the stands.

"But as this is now a competition, we can only choose one winner." Luna then took the microphone and explained, much to everyone's annoyance, "Who is it going to be?"

Already, the students were arguing with one another about who will win the Battle of the Bands with their negative emotions producing the familiar green mist that went into the Sirens' pendants, giving them more power to consume.

"You feel that, girls? Our true power is being restored." Adagio declared as Aria and Sonata let out a laugh. Just then, the Humane 7 had arrived at last to the competition, stepping into the gym, "And that's before we've tapped into the strongest magic here."

"But the Rainblossoms, or whatever they're called, aren't under our spell." Aria then reminded Adagio before asking, "How exactly are we supposed to get to their magic?"

"The Rainbooms are just as capable of falling apart as anyone else." Adagio them pointed out, "They just need a push in the wrong direction. I have a feeling everyone here is going to be lining up to give them a shove." Adagio, Aria and Sonata looked on at the Humane 7 in anticipation for their failure.

Some time passed to Snips and Snails' audition, where they were both rappers. However, they were not that good at it at all. Fortunately, it soon ended as Snips and Snails finished their rap number with a double mic drop. The Humane 7 cringed from the loud feedback of the microphones making contact on the floor of the stage.

"Please do not drop the microphones." Principal Celestia ordered the two displeased.

Snips and Snails merely laugh in response as they stepped off stage.

"In your face, Rainbooms." Snips said to the Humane 7 as he and Snails walked past them.

"Least we know one group that won't stand in the way of us gettin' to the finals." Applejack remarked about Snips and Snails.

"Let's get ready to rock!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Wait! Where's Rarity?" Pinkie asked seeing that Rarity was no longer with the group.

"Oh! Here! I'm here!" Rarity called out walking back to the group. She was now wearing a hippie inspired outfit that consisted of a two layer purple skirt with lavender trimmings, her regular light blue shirt, a beige jacket that had metal fringes on the sleeves and at the bottom with a matching beige headband around her forehead and beige boots with purple heels and metal fringes on the top.

"When did you have time to do this?" Applejack asked Rarity.

"Oh, actually, it's from Photo Finish. She said that she just had it lying around and wanted me to have it and of course, I couldn't say no." Rarity explained.

The rest of the Humane 7 looked at Rarity in confusion, while Rainbow Dash and Applejack expressed a look that said 'seriously?' at Rarity's idea.

"We will be performing in front of an audience. I'm not going to wear something fabulous?" Rarity explained.

The Humane 7 basically rolled their eyes in response to Rarity's explanation with Applejack letting out a sigh in irritation. Eventually, the Rainbooms got on stage ready to perform. Everyone in the crowd gave the same cold stare at them as yesterday.

"Remember, we have to be good enough to make it through. But not so good we let the Sirens see the magic within us." Twilight reminded her bandmates, whom all agreed, "They could realize we plan to use it against them."

"Got it! Be cool enough to win, but not so cool we end up showing off the whole 'ears and tails and rainbows' things." Rainbow Dash said fully grasping Twilight's advice in her own way, "So, about 20% less cool?"

"One, two..." Pinkie chanted tapping her drumsticks together.

[The Rainbooms]

_We've just got the day to get ready_

_And there's only so time to lose_

_Because tonight, yeah, we're here to party_

_So, let's think of something fun to do_

Unbeknownst to the Rainbooms, up above the catwalk were Photo Finish and her assistants, the Snapshots planning to sabotage their performance.

_We don't know_

_(We don't know)_

_What's gonna happen_

_We just know_

_(We just know)_

_It's gonna feel right_

The Snapshots pulled out magnets tied to marionettes before slowly descending said magnets down to where Rarity was.

_All our friends are here_

_And it's time to ignite the lights_

The magnets reached to Rarity, where the fringes on her jacket were magnetically pulled and instantly attached to them. Not only was Rarity unable to play her keytar, but Photo Finish was now moving her around the stage like a marionette.

_Shake your tail_

_'Cause we're here to have a party tonight_

Applejack noticed Rarity, confused about her moving around and unaware of her being controlled.

_Shake your tail_

_Shake your tail_

Photo Finish moved Rarity over to Applejack and moved her arm up to knock Applejack's hat off, making it look like she did it on purpose. Applejack put her hat back on and turned her head to Rarity in irritation, but soon saw the magnets stuck on Rarity's jacket and realized that she was being moved around by someone up on the catwalk above trying to sabotage them. She wasn't able to do anything to help Rarity or report to Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna as the Rainbooms were still in the middle of their audition.

_Shake your tail_

_'Cause we're here to have a party tonight_

_Shake your tail_

_Shake your tail_

Pinkie saw some members of the audience were pretending to sleep through the song and even calling it boring. She then decided to improvise, spinning one of the bottom drums on her set to the position of a cannon and hitting it, revealing to be a makeshift party cannon firing confetti around the stage.

[Twilight]

_So what you didn't get it right the first time_

[Pinkie]

_Laugh it off_

_No one said it is a crime_

[Rarity]

_Do your thing_

_You know you're an original_

Despite being controlled, Rarity still tried to sing her part of the song. Photo Finish then moved Rarity against Applejack. Applejack saw this as her opportunity as she helped get the magnets off Rarity by trying to get the jacket off. Unfortunately, Photo dragged Rarity away before Applejack could.

[Applejack]

_Your ideas are so funny that they're criminal_

[The Rainbooms]

_Ohhh-ahh_

Twilight then chocked on a piece of confetti and was then aided by Fluttershy, who slapped Twilight's back, helping her cough the confetti out. In the audience, Twilight saw Flash Sentry giving her the cold shoulder as he and his band walked off, leaving Twilight a bit hurt.

_We've just got the day to get ready_

_And there's only so time to lose_

_Because tonight, yeah, we're here to party_

_So, let's think of something fun to do_

Two more guests walked up on the catwalk above. This time, they were Snips and Snails and they directed the spotlight to Fluttershy. Fluttershy immediately paused from stage fright as she saw that the audience was focused directly onto her. She tried moving away from the spotlight, but it just kept following her, resulting in her running away from it throughout the stage

_We don't know_

_(We don't know)_

_What's gonna happen_

_We just know_

_(We just know)_

_It's gonna feel right_

Much like Applejack, Rainbow noticed Fluttershy running away from the spotlight and looked up to see that someone was moving the spotlight in an attempt to sabotage their song, though she couldn't see that it was Snips and Snails doing it.

_All our friends are here_

_And it's time to ignite the lights_

_Shake your tail_

_'Cause we're here to have a party tonight_

_Shake your tail_

_Shake your tail_

Fluttershy managed to outrun the spotlight and hid behind Pinkie Pie as it was the only one safe place to hide.

_Shake your tail_

_'Cause we're here to have a party tonight_

Rarity then tried to regain control of her arms as she pulled them toward her.

_Shake your tail_

_Shake your tail_

_Shake your tail_

_'Cause we're here to have a party tonight_

Rarity struggled with trying to pull the magnets off, but soon the sleeves of the jacket tore off as she landed face down on the floor. She rose her head and saw that her outfit was ruined, leaving her to cry over it as a result. Applejack merely sighed in annoyance over what Rarity was doing.

_Shake your tail_

_Shake your tail_

_Shake your tail_

_'Cause we're here to have a party tonight_

_Shake your tail_

_Shake your tail_

_Shake your tail_

_'Cause we're here to have a party tonight_

Rainbow Dash started to sweat nervously seeing that the audition was a disaster. Now, they were never going to win. The Rainbooms exited to backstage without even saying a word. Up on the catwalk, Photo Finish, the Snapshots and Snips and Snails were satisfied with their work as they were leaving.


	13. The Semi-Finals

"Ugh! Ruined! Absolutely ruined!" Rarity lamented still upset over her outfit.

"Rarity, don't you realize that Photo Finish gave you that outfit because she wanted to make you lose out there?" Applejack asked Rarity.

"Of course, I realized that. This was all Photo Finish's doing." Rarity rebuttaled.

"Yeah, well, she wouldn't have able to do this if you didn't agree to dress like...like, this!" Applejack argued. Rarity took offense to Applejack's words, "We can't trust anyone who's in the competition right now. Everyone's under the Sirens' control and we know now that they'll even cheat to win."

"Yeah! And what was with the confetti, Pinkie?!" Rainbow Dash then argued with Pinkie holding up a piece of confetti for Pinkie to see, "How am I supposed to shred if there's paper stuck in my threads?!"

"It was pretty distracting." Fluttershy gently openly admitted.

"Ugh! Says the girl who was running from a light the whole time. A light!" Pinkie talked back at Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy has stage fright, Pinkie. And I think someone knew that and was using it against her." Rainbow Dash said.

"If we're not interrupting something, we would like to have a word with you all." Vice Principal Luna announced herself as she and Principal Celestia stepped in.

"Listen, Principal Celestia, what happened earlier wasn't our fault. We had no idea-"

"Actually, we wanted to let you know that Snips, Snails, Photo Finish and the Snapshots have been disqualified over what they did. And even though things didn't go the way you planned, we are happy to inform you that your band is now in the competition."

The Rainbooms cheered at getting into the competition.

"We'll leave you to get ready for your first match." Principal Celestia told the Rainbooms as she and Luna left to go back to their table.

"See? You still sounded better than most of the other bands. I knew that you would make it to the last round despite what happened. But it won't matter if you don't have that counter spell ready." Sunset reassured and then reminded everyone, which worried Twilight, "You all find a place to practice where the Sirens can't hear you, I'll keep an eye on things around here." As the Humane 6 left to do what Sunset suggested, Derpy's own band came up on stage, which consisted on them playing a cowbell, a triangle and a musical saw. After Derpy's band finished, the Dazzlings went backstage for their audition, but were confronted by Sunset Shimmer leaning by the door. "You're never gonna get away with this." Sunset Shimmer told the Dazzlings.

"Why? Because you didn't?" Adagio then asked mockingly, showing that she and her teammates weren't intimidated.

This left Sunset unable to make a rebuttal, clearly caught off-guard.

"We know all about you, Sunset Shimmer. You've got quite the reputation here at Canterlot High." Adagio informed Sunset on how they knew about her as she and the other two Sirens circled around her like a pack of sharks.

"I've changed, I'm in a much better place now." Sunset finally rebuttaled.

"Waiting in the wings while you're friends have all the fun?" Aria mockingly asked Sunset, who didn't reply back.

"Oh, yes. You girls are so tight. And yet, they didn't ask you to be in the band." Adagio stated to Sunset.

"Probably afraid no one will want to see them play if she was in the group." Aria then speculated. The Sirens' words were starting to get to Sunset.

Sunset wanted to fight back, but couldn't over how their words were possibly true.

"Too bad!" Sonata exclaimed popping up in front of Sunset and then circled behind her saying, "So sad!"

"If it's any consolation, no one is going to remember you at all by the time we're through with you." Adagio stated to Sunset walking past her along with Aria and Sonata as she was saying it.

Sunset didn't respond back to the Sirens and was left defeated by their words, leaving her in a worse position than she was before as the Sirens stepped into the gym.

"Remember, girls. We want to save the good stuff for when our full power has been restored." Adagio pointed out to her cohorts as the pendants glowed.

Soon after, the curtain rose and the Dazzlings automatically began their song.

[The Dazzlings]

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_You didn't know that you fell_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

[Adagio]

_Now that you're under our spell_

_Blindsided by the beat_

_Clapping your hands_

_Stomping your feet_

_You didn't know that you fell_

[Aria and Sonata]

_Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh_

[Adagio]

_Now you've fallen under our spell_

True to the lyrics, it showed Celestia and Luna swooning over the Dazzlings.

[Aria and Sonata]

_Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh_

It then showed a tournament chart of all the bands against each other in the Battle of the Bands.

[The Dazzlings]

_We've got the music_

_Makes you move it_

_Got the song_

_That makes you lose it_

The first match was between Flash Sentry's band against the Eco-Kids' band.

_We say "jump"_

_You say "how high?"_

_Put your hands_

_Up to the sky_

_We've got the music_

_Makes you move it_

_Got the song_

_That makes you lose it_

_We say "jump"_

_You say "how high?"_

_Put your hands_

_Up to the sky_

Flash's band was victorious in the end as they moved up in the competition.

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_You didn't know that you fell_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_Now you've fallen under our spell_

Twilight was trying desperately to finish the counter spell on time, constantly writing and then erasing lyrics.

[Adagio]

_Listen to the sound of my voice_

[Aria and Sonata]

_Oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh_

Much like Celestia and Luna, the students sitting in the stands were all mesmerized by the Dazzlings.

[Adagio]

_Soon, you'll find_

_You don't have a choice_

[Aria and Sonata]

_Oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh_

The Rainbooms were pitted against Octavia, who was playing solo on her cello.

[Adagio]

_Captured in the web_

_Of my song_

[Aria and Sonata]

_Oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh_

[Adagio]

_Soon you'll all_

_Be singing along_

[Aria and Sonata]

_Oh-whoa-oh_

Like Flash's band, the Rainbooms beat Octavia and moved on in the competition.

[Dazzlings]

_We've got the music_

_Makes you move it_

_Got the song_

_That makes you lose it_

Bon Bon and Lyra played a piano duet together against Trixie and her band, who reigned victorious over the two close friends, moving on in the competition.

_We say "jump"_

_You say "how high?"_

_Put your hands_

_Up to the sky_

_We've got the music_

_Makes you move it_

_Got the song_

_That makes you lose it_

Sunset begrudgingly watched the Mane 6 fight with each other, even when Twilight tried sharing her progress on the spell with them. All the things the Dazzlings said to her earlier were starting to take effect on her confidence in trying to help them and she began to wonder if she could help anymore at this point as her friends minus Twilight were slowly becoming like everyone else in the Dazzlings' control.

_We say "jump"_

_You say "how high?"_

_Put your hands_

_Up to the sky_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_You didn't know that you fell_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_Now you've fallen under our spell_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_You didn't know that you fell_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_Now you've fallen under our spell_

Adagio let out an evil song as their song came to an end.


End file.
